Broken
by Rifa
Summary: When a Black Mage 'wakes up' what happens to them? To they run away? Do they fight? Or do they get killed? A story about three who try to make it to the Black Mage Village, and what really happens to the 'broken' mages. [Complete]
1. Introduction

Chapter 1

No. 114 was nothing special, at least not compared to the other 99 type "B" black mages. They were all uniform in their production, every stitch of fabric, every bit of magic and power and every part of their programmed thought were victims of the product line standard. No. 114 was nothing special, or at least he thought so.

But no. 114 knew that the type "B"'s were special compared to type "A" black mages. He had once listened to a guard point out the differences in their production: Type "A"'s were physically stronger than type "B"'s but lacked in magical power and abilities which type "B"'s were specially made with.

No. 114 had never seen a type "A".

No.114 never saw much at all. His world was dark, cold and sometimes rather damp. Small oil lamps were hung on the ceiling and the walls creating a weak and dim light and water would drip from the ancient stone ceiling that the entire room was made of. He was kept in a storage facility for unused mages, a square underground room where the 100 type "B"'s sat in rows, they were unpackaged and activated back when it was believed they'd be needed for a second wave of attack. When they decided not to use them they were put here so they would be fresh for a different attack.

No. 114 didn't know what that was supposed to mean.

The black mages would all just sit there; they didn't look around, they never readjusted their weight, they never seemed to acknowledge anything. So that was what no. 114 did, it seemed like that was what he was supposed to do. He would sit there in his row, a row away from one of the wall edges where guards would pass by. He sat there all day. Once a day they were given food so they would keep running. No. 114 didn't like the food much; it was always old, moldy and stale and always made a strange discomfort in his mouth and stomach when he ate it. Then after sitting a long while his eyes would feel heavy, then he'd wake up to start the cycle over again.

No. 114 didn't like doing this, but he enjoyed watching the guards.

The room was never without guards. No. 114 didn't know how he knew what they were and didn't understand why they were there. Every time he woke up four guards with pale faces and puffy eyes would leave out a door and were instantly replaced with four more. The same thing happened when the food came and when no. 114's eyes became heavy. When the new guards came they were accompanied by what no.114 believed to be a newer model of guards. She wore more and better armor than the others and the hair that sprouted from above their pale faces seemed different on her than the others. She would come in, tell each one of the guards to stand in different corners of the room, say something about "what was going on" or something about "the queen" and would occasionally give out some advice. Orders, information, advice.

No. 114 was sure she was a newer model of these guards.

All the guards seemed as uniform as the black mages at first glance. But no. 114 would look at them a lot, in secret of course. He had noticed the differences between them. They were all almost uniform in their shape, physical form and attire but each had small and unique differences. They had different hair and eye colours, they sometimes had very small marks on their bodies and they all had different faces. He also noticed that they would tell each other apart from their differences.

No. 114 wondered how anyone would be able to tell the different type "B"'s apart.

No. 114 wondered if his face looked different from the others.

More than anything, no. 114 loved to listen to the guards talk to one another. They never stayed in the corners of the room like they were told; they would always pair up and start chatting while glancing around the room every few minutes. No. 114 would listen but he never really understood what they were talking about. He kept a growing vocabulary of words he didn't understand from the conversations and would repeat them over and over in his head when no one was speaking in hopes of finally understanding their meanings. But some words he would hear would startle him, because somewhere far away he couldn't reach... he understood their meanings and was struggling to reach it. "Attack", "empire", "invasion", "battle", "resistance", "enemy", "army" and "_kill_". His mind struggled to understand them, to reach that part of his mind where the words had meanings.

No. 114 didn't understand why he would know the meanings to those words.

The weirdest things about those words was that, while the guards spoke of these things they would hush their voices and glance around the room of black mages as though expecting something to happen.

No. 114 wondered what they were expecting to happen...

But the guards kept on talking and no. 114 kept struggling with the meanings of their words. He had to try his best not to move because the others didn't. And he kept listening.

"I heard that her highness is finally sending those other mages to Burmecia for the attack."

"Just now? Geez, what took them so long?"

"She wanted to attack after the princess' birthday but then we went missing during that shooting...."

"Wasn't she on the ship?"

"Yeah, and the Queen shot at it! Can you believe that? She endangered the princess, everyone there and the castle."

"Yeah... hey wait a minute..."

"Huh? What?"

"Wasn't there a... no, never mind."

"..Okay. Hey, I thought you were going to go to Burmecia for the invasion..."

"Oh yeah, but I got stuck here."

"Ha, ha, ha... right."

No. 114 had been sitting for a long time. He started to find it difficult to move at all now. A simple sift of weight shot pain up his spine and made a horrible pounding in his head.

"Wasn't the Queen keeping the attack plans and the black mages secret from the princess?"

"Ha, ha, ha... it must have been a birthday surprise for the princess!"

"Heh, yeah but... do you think the princess suspected her?"

"Huh?"

"Well, you know... she DID take off."

"Naw, she was kidnapped!"

"But then, why has no one been sent out to get her?"

"They already set something out."

"'Something'? Whattaya mean?"

"Black Waltzes."

"Black what?"

No. 114's head started to feel numb. His head was taking way too much in it started to hurt. Nothing ever changed but the conversations. Day after day the same thing. Wake up, new guards, sit, eat, new guards, sit more, eyes feel heavy, new guards, wake up. No.114 didn't know what was past the door, where did the guards go? Where did they come from? What was past the door? What was past the door...?

"I didn't know Zorn and Thorn worked with stuff like that! I thought they were just jesters!"

"I know, but they do some pretty weird stuff."

"Didn't they just come a year ago?"

"Yeah, just before the King died, why?"

"Where were they before that?"

"Beats me, maybe from some small town or something. Maybe you should ask them."

"Ha, ha, yeah: 'Hey Zorn and Thorn, did you guys come from a small town or something?' 'We didn't come from a small town!' 'Came from small town we did not!'"

"Ha, ha, ha, ha! That sounds just like them!"

No. 114 started to hate sitting there. On top of his numb head and bodily pains he had an extremely uncomfortable burning under his gloves. But he couldn't understand why....

"Geez, this gives me the creeps."

"What does?"

"Being in here with all these black mages... I mean, look at them! They all just sit there in those lines, never moving, barely breathing... They scare me so much!"

"Why?"

"Well... Oh, you know. They're so powerful what if one just snapped and started attacking us?"

"Are you kidding!? They're black mages!"

"What do you mean?"

"They don't do anything unless they're told! I mean, we tell them to sit there all day and they sit, we tell them to eat crap food and they eat it. They're empty, there's nothing inside them, they're like puppets and we are the puppeteers."

No. 114 understood that. Every word.

No. 114 stopped listening, he stopped thinking about words or the pain attacking him because hearing that had made him realize something. There was nothing to tell him apart from the others, there was nothing different between him and the others, there was nothing special about him except... a number. No. 114. The 114th black mage made, of the "B" type.

114. 114. 114. 114. 114. 114. 114. 114. 114. 114.

No. 114 suddenly realized that his face looked the same as every other black mage.

He was nothing.

No. 114.

Just a number.


	2. Discovery

Chapter 2

No. 114 didn't bother to listen to the guards. He didn't bother to watch them come in. He didn't bother to keep track of the time. No. 114 just didn't bother. No. 114 wouldn't bother to do anything unless he was told. No. 114 would do only what the guards told him because that was what he what supposed to do.

No. 114 didn't notice how many days went by. One or two perhaps? He didn't really care though, what difference would that make? It wouldn't, so he didn't care.

Whatever amount of time it was, No. 114 didn't spend it listening or thinking. He sat there, numb to his cold, wet and empty world of the underground. He stared blankly ahead, he didn't move or adjust his weight, he didn't flinch at the pain in his legs and back and he didn't bother to watch the changes, not that many happened.

But one did happen, one that no. 114 couldn't keep from noticing.

It was time for the food to come with the new guards, not that no. 114 realized or cared. But instead of the stale and mold usually served to them they were instead given instructions, the first they had ever had since they were pulled from their packages. The day had been completely normal until the special guard came, with two type "A"s following her.

No. 114 instantly jumped from his numb state, he had never seen a type "A" before and had always wondered about them. The pair of them stood behind the guard, as empty and hollow as the others in the room. Their clothing was shabbier than the type "B"s, cheaply made and worn, it also seemed that the coat on one had been re-stitched near his chest where a large rip once was. They were built visibly tougher and harder than the type "B"s but seemed, even in their traced states, worn and weary from the battles they fought.

"General Beatrix?" One of the guards mumbled from no. 114's left side.

"New instructions." Beatrix explained quickly, her voice sweet and beautiful but harshly to the point. "So before you four run off take a listen so you don't lose your jobs. The Queen has ordered an attack and you four are to order and escort these mages to base level and await further instructions."

Although no. 114 was listening this time, he didn't care too much what it was she was saying or what it meant. He was intent on keeping his eyes on the new mages. He watched them as Beatrix moved down the side of the room near him with the two mages following behind her without question.

"Oh come on, it's beyond easy. Easier than ordering a six-year old around." Beatrix remarked to an unsure guard as she came nearer and nearer to no. 114. No. 114 didn't take his eyes off her or the mages, forgetting to hide his stare he allowed his eyes to follow them as they passed.

"Just tell them to –"Beatrix stopped abruptly just after passing no. 114, her voice and stopped and her back went rigid. She spun around and stared straight at no.114.

No. 114 knew he blew it.

Beatrix moved closer staring at no. 114. She pushed aside the two type "B"s lined in front of no. 114's row, the mages fell over slightly and hollowly before re-gaining their perfect sitting stance. Beatrix was now just in front of no. 114, she kneeled down to his sitting height, her right hand clenched on the handle of something that was slugged on her hip, one of eyes was covered by a strange metal plate while the other stared deep into his eyes. No. 114 did his best to stay rock still, to stare blankly ahead as if staring through her, to match the image of every other mage in the room.

No. 114 didn't know what happened to mages that didn't act properly.

"Is something wrong General?" A guard hidden from view asked Beatrix, her voice shaking slightly.

"Maybe I was just imagining it...." Beatrix wondered out loud, still staring into no. 114 eyes. She twisted her mouth and stood shaking her heavy mane of hair, she then went back to her original position on the side row of the room.

"As I was saying..." She re-started, her voice clicking back to her usual tone. "Just tell them to stand and file into the next room then tell them to follow you and walk up the stairs. It's not difficult.... Fine, I'll do it myself. I don't know what you get paid for around here..."

No. 114 found himself wondering what was going on, which was a nice change for him.

"Black Mages!" Beatrix suddenly barked quite loudly. No. 114 had a strange shiver run up his spine, he had never been given a order apart from 'eat', at least not that remembered. He found himself go suddenly tense and felt unable to ignore order. The shiver that had run up his back made him suddenly tense and stiff and set something off inside of him that made him want to listen, to follow her orders.

"Stand!"

No. 114, as well as all the black mages from all his sides, stood instantly. It seemed impossible to over power it. But as he stood he felt the all too familiar pains hit him a hundred times worse than ever before. He felt his body shake at sudden motion and weight under his legs and he noticed that the black mages around him didn't flinch at any pain, although he could see their legs shaking under their weight. No. 114 struggled to stay up, to stay in the rock-solid stance and the empty state as the others but the pain was just too much.

No. 114 collapsed onto the cold hard ground, causing a slight relief in his legs but more pain from the fall. He heard himself groan loudly from the pain in his bones and muscles and felt himself shake. Then he heard the footsteps coming towards him.

"I thought so..." He heard Beatrix breathe quietly from just above him. A shot of fear cursed no. 114's mind and body; he knew he ruined it now. After all this time staying like the others, after hiding his stares and everything... His fall had given himself away, and he didn't know what to expect.

"Black mages: file out through the door; then follow the guards up the stairs." Beatrix ordered the mages from above no. 114. No. 114 tried to push himself up with his shaking arms but was finding it difficult, but he wanted to follow the order. He wanted to get up and follow her order. That what he was supposed to do, follow orders.

No. 114 pushed himself up, he tried his best to keep balance and tried his best to ignore the new sick feeling in his stomach and follow the order. But then he noticed Beatrix, standing right in front of him, staring like a hawk as mages filed out all around them. No. 114 turned to follow the mages out, to follow the order, to see beyond the door...

"No. Stay here." Beatrix cut into him. He turned back to face her, her one un-covered brown eye staring at him in a way that made no. 114 feel uncomfortable. Her right hand was clenched tightly at the handle of... a sword? What was a sword? No. 114 didn't know how he knew what it was, but he also seemed to know that meant something bad... So he stood as solidly as he could, she stared with her one eye, mages walked hollowly in their formation out of the room making their way around the pair.

"Beatrix?" A guard asked nervously from behind, hidden from view by the passing mages.

"You've been given your orders." Beatrix stated, not moving either her stare or grasp on her the sword.

Within the minute, all the mages had left the room save for no. 114 and the two type "A"s still awaiting their orders from Beatrix, even the guards had left. The room was now as hollow and empty as two of the mages who occupied it. No. 114 had never seen the room empty and found it pleasant to have so much space. But he was preoccupied with Beatrix's constant stare.

"Number." She ordered.

Number? What was that supposed to mean? How could 'number' be an order?

No. 114 stared at Beatrix blankly and overly-confused. He had no idea what she meant or what she was asking of him. But he knew he did something wrong when she frowned at him looking rather offended at her order not being carried out. She suddenly grabbed his wrist with her left hand, right one still clamped on the sword. No. 114 fought his urges to pull it back but instead watched confusedly as she unfolded the cuff of his jacket with her thumb to reveal embroidered letters:

No. 114

Type B

Satisfied, Beatrix released his wrist but not her stare. Frowning at him slightly she took her left hand and put up her index finger, she moved her finger up to no. 114's face and moved it from side to side slowly then quickly, no. 114's eyes followed them. Frowning and looking a bit distressed Beatrix let her hand fall back to her side as she gave another order.

"Follow me. And don't try anything." Beatrix ordered stiffly, her voice seemed to mask a nervousness that didn't seem capable with the rest of her. She turned and started for the door, her hand still on the handle of her sword, no. 114 decided it was a good idea to follow her.

No. 114 followed her out the door with the type "A"s walked between him and Beatrix. He found himself in a room like before but this one was different; it was very tall and there were paths ways that lead further and further up passing many doors that led somewhere else. It was still cold and dark but less wet and much more interesting.

They went up on of the pathways, 'stairs' no. 114 learned. Going up them made him feel tired, especially since he still hadn't gotten over the pains from sitting for so long. They went up and up and up, passing lots of doors and other hallways made in ancient stone.

Finally, they reached the door they were going to go through. It was up at the top of the tall room and Beatrix had to stomp on a switch to open it. A strong light poured through nearly blinding no. 114, a strange fresh smell was swept into his lungs and he heard many strange sounds; guards talking and giving orders, footsteps, strange motor sounds, the banging of metal on metal or wood and the strange natural sounds of wind and birds.

Beatrix passed through the door into the grassy courtyard, the two type "A"s and no. 114 followed closely. No. 114 looked around in awe, he was walking on something green, lush and brushy, it was a large square room with no roof, just something blue that looked very far away. Many guards and both "A" and "B" type mages where crowded about, giving and following orders. It the middle was something very large that no. 114 was amazed by, an 'airship' something inside told him, a large door from it was opened, allowing the type "B"s from the room to go inside. No. 114 wondered if that was where they were going.

But instead of going toward the airship Beatrix took a sharp turn and headed for a door on their left. It was then no. 114 realized that the square, green room was surrounded by large towers and stonewalls, a castle. There were lots of little windows that let sunlight pour in, there were beautiful decorations in the stone and on banners and the sight was beyond anything no. 114 could have ever imagined.

No. 114 liked being out of the dark.

No. 114 followed Beatrix through a large wooden door, the inside of the castle was darker than the courtyard but equally pleasing. But no. 114 didn't get enough time to take it in; Beatrix was walking quite quickly and no. 114 didn't want to get lost. She went up a flight of stairs that were covering in a beautiful deep red carpet and went through another large wooden door on the top right of the stairs.

They were outside again but high up. It seemed as if the castle had extended a hand for them to stand on, the courtyard was below them and over the castle wall an entire town could be seen. No. 114 couldn't believe how big everything was. He could see large amounts of water with strange airship-like things floating in it and he saw the water fall off a cliff and disappear. It was beautiful.

Beatrix dismissed the two type "A"s and led no. 114 down a few steps to reveal two strange people. They weren't like the guards no. 114 always saw; they were... different. The first he noticed was very large, her hair stuck up funny, her skin was blue and she draped in many layers of luxurious fabrics of velvet, satin and fur. She didn't look very nice, she seemed rather angry and it appeared as if she had gone mad.

The second was quite different, he was very pale and tall, and his hair was sliver and flowed gently in the light breeze. He was dressed in exotic slivery satins, tall boots and amour although he was so delicate looking. Why would he have amour? But there was something about this man that made no. 114 feel sick and tight on the insides, his eyes were the coldest shade of blue no. 114 would ever see. He stood there like he was important and it seemed like he was either extremely amused or extremely annoyed, perhaps both.

" – I'd recommend you keep on eye on them, or kill them off, whichever your highness prefers." The man spoke, his voice as cold as eyes. He stopped when he caught sight of no. 114, the man smirked and no. 114 could have sworn the man's eyes had somehow seen inside of him.

"What took you so long Beatrix!? You were supposed to be here earlier! We can't plan the attack with you if you're not here!" The large woman barked at Beatrix. No. 114 was suddenly taken back; he didn't know someone could speak to Beatrix like that. Why was she so mad?

"My apologies your highness but I had a bit of trouble – "Beatrix spoke softly, trying to clam the angry woman.

_So this is the queen, _No. 114 thought.

"Why isn't this one on the ship yet?! We're leaving right away Beatrix!" The Queen snapped at Beatrix, who seemed very disturbed at her queen's anger.

No. 114 felt the man watching him. He didn't like it.

"I'm sorry my Queen but it seems like there is something wrong with this one..." Beatrix spoke quietly, feeling embarrassed about her Queen's behavior.

No. 114 looked down at the floor. He didn't want the man watching him.

"What do you mean 'something wrong'?!" The Queen shouted at the General.

"It's not working like the rest, maybe he's broken..." Beatrix spoke even more softly than before.

"Broken?"

No. 114 didn't like it when the man spoke either.

"Kuja, what's wrong with it!?"

"Let's see...."

No. 114 heard the man, 'Kuja', come close to him, his boots clicking on the floor. He felt shivers run up his back, he felt tense and wished that Kuja would go away. Why did he feel this way about him?

Kuja circled around no. 114 before stopping right in front of him. No. 114 allowed his head to drop lower, he didn't want to look at Kuja. He didn't like him. Why was he feeling like this? Why wouldn't Kuja just go away?

Suddenly Kuja grabbed the front brim of no. 114's hat aggressively and yanked it upwards causing pain to shoot down no, 114's neck and made it feel like the top of his head might rip off. For a second, no. 114 saw Kuja's face. His cold blue eyes, painfully indifferent to the pain he was causing to no. 114, a small smirk on Kuja's face made no. 114 feel extremely sick. No. 114 clamped his bright yellow eyes shut. He didn't like Kuja.

Finally, Kuja let go of him.

"It's broken. Repair is more costly than replacement." Kuja explained, his voice slithered and bit like a poisonous snake. No. 114 felt like he had just swallowed a rock and he could feel it swell in his throat as he dropped his head back down.

No. 114 heard Kuja's boots click on the stone floor as he made his way to the door; he stopped and said simply and hollowly.

"Just kill it."

Kuja walked out the door. That was last of no. 114 ever heard or saw of him. He raised his face up and looked over at the Queen and Beatrix staring at him.

His eyes filled up with fear.


	3. Escape

AN: Thanks to all my reviewers, I'm so glad your enjoying it thus far nn This chapter is a bit uhh.. long. I couldn't really find a place to cut it off for a while so it's really long. In reply to some of the questions about the first two chapters, about how no. 114 knew the difference between a 'he' and a 'she' and how he knew what 'puppet' meant, those I basically threw in so it wouldn't be too confusing for the reader and the puppet part was thrown in for effect so I'd have something to go on.

And thanks for the e mails too, I love them nn Hope you enjoy this chapter!

**Edit: **I'm really sorry to everyone who has read this before this change but **Mr. 56 has been changed to Mr. 57. **It turns out that 56 was alreadly taken by a black mage in the game which would destory my plot so it had to be changed, sorry!

* * *

Chapter 3

Kill? What was kill again...? Kill, kill, kill... No. 114 racked his memory for the meaning, he knew he knew it somehow. He had never heard it used before but he knew it, what was it? Kill? It was something horrible. He at least knew that. It caused pain. Something inside told no. 114 that he was to avoid being 'killed' at all costs.

No. 114 stared at Beatrix and the queen, wondering what they were going to do. If they wanted to kill him then he knew he should try and not get killed. How would he do that? How do you 'kill' anyway?

"What a waste." The Queen snarled. She seemed angrier than before.

"...So, what's wrong with it? I know he said it was broken but what does that mean?" Beatrix wondered out loud, tilting her head slightly looking over at no. 114.

"Just get rid of it." The Queens threw her arms violently making Beatrix jump slightly.

"Here?" Beatrix asked, a shocked look came over her face at the Queens behavior.

"Of course not! Get someone else to do it, we have a tree to destroy." The Queen ordered, making her way to the door.

"Destroy...?" Beatrix asked softly, her face adopting a distressed look.

The Queen gave no answer, but instead went through the large doors into the castle. No. 114 would've wondering where she was going if he was preoccupied trying to figure out what 'kill' was.

"God, I'm sick of this." Beatrix muttered to herself. "Attacking everyone with black mages for crystals! What has gotten into her?"

Beatrix looked over at no. 114 wondering if he could hear her, and if he could understand what she was saying.

"God." She sighed deeply. "I don't trust that Kuja... Oh well, come on then." Beatrix ordered at no. 114, as she started toward the doors.

No. 114 followed. They went into the hallway and down the same stairs they went up. But instead of going through another door Beatrix addressed some guards who looked disappointed at the fact that they weren't leaving with the Queen's airship.

"You two, orders." Beatrix said simply to the pair. "Take this mage out of the castle, out to the fields and kill it. Go through the underground way, I don't want to start a panic in town with you two walking through there with a mage. Understand?"

"Yeah but... why?" The light haired guard asked confusedly.

"That doesn't concern you. Just follow through with it, afterwards come back and do your usual rounds while I'm gone." Beatrix ordered while looking through a window at the airship about to take off. She turned to no. 114 and said, "Follow their orders."

She left through a door on their right and disappeared onto the airship. No. 114 looked over at the two guards, wondering what was going to happen next. He knew Beatrix ordered them to kill him, and she ordered him to follow their orders but... he wasn't supposed to get killed. What was he supposed to do?

"Weird..." The dark haired guard sighed. "What is this all about?"

"Beats me. Oh well, something more interesting to do." The light haired one sighed. "Follow us, mage."

No. 114 followed them. He followed them down into another underground passage; there must be a lot of them. But... No. 114 felt strange, he wanted to follow orders but he also felt that he shouldn't be killed either.

"Tomorrow's me and Anthony's anniversary."

"Really? Doing anything special?"

"Hee, hee, he said we're going to do something special but refuses to tell me!"

"How sweet! I love it when boyfriends are nice like that."

"That reminds me, I was going to hook up with a friend of mine!"

"Really?"

No. 114 was supposed to follow orders. But he wasn't supposed to be killed. But he had to follow all the orders he was given. But what if he was ordered to be killed? What was he supposed to do then? Why wouldn't this make any sense...?

"You haven't seen Amanda have you?"

"Oh.. you didn't hear?"

"Hear what?"

"Amanda got killed in Burmecia..."

"What?!"

"Horrible isn't it?"

"Yeah, I didn't think we'd get any deaths with the black mages on our side..."

No. 114 was confused. It was horrible when one of the other guards got killed, so was it going to be horrible if he got killed? If it was horrible then why were these guards going to do it? Just because they were told to?

"Speaking of which, what're we supposed to do with this one?"

"Kill it, right?"

"Yeah, but what if it attacks us?"

"...It shouldn't, not if we tell it not to."

"Oh, okay."

....Attack? What did that mean again...? Why would he attack if they were going to kill him? Was that what he was supposed to do? Obliviously not, the guards just said he shouldn't, but then why would they think of it? Why were they going to kill him? No. 114 didn't understand.

They had been walking through a dark tunnel for some time now, no. 114 didn't notice. He was still trying to figure out what was going on. He wanted to remember what kill meant. But before he could figure it out they were out of the dark. The passageway led them to somewhere new, outside of the castle and town and in a large grassy field on the top of a high plateau. The guards led no. 114 into the middle of the field near the cliff edge, down below a dark and stiff forest lay surrounding a small lake made up of the water from the town's waterfalls.

"So what do we do with it after we kill it?" The light haired guard asked looking around the empty plateau.

"We could just push him off the edge here, something in the Evil Forest can eat it or something." The dark haired guard answered looking over at the forest below them. She looked over at no. 114 and asked the other guard, "You want to do it?"

"Sure, but how should I do it?" The light haired guard asked, tilting her head at no. 114 and letting her hand rest on the handle of her sword.

"Just a clean stab I guess." The other shrugged.

No. 114 felt his breath quicken as the guard readied her sword. He didn't want to be killed.

"Don't move."

No. 114 watched the guard come closer to him, the sword reflecting the sunlight on its sharp blade. No. 114 wanted to follow the order but he didn't want to be killed. His programming was clashing causing a pounding pain in his head, he had to follow the order but he wasn't supposed to die. He was supposed to avoid being killed at all costs.

No. 114 realized that the guard was blocking his way out, all that was behind him was the cliff and he didn't want to fall down either.

The guard edged closer to him, no. 114 watched the blade make its way closer and closer to him. The guard was almost within attacking distance, no. 114 could see her light hair be teased by the light breeze, the reflecting world in the sliver blade.

No. 114 didn't want to be killed.

Then, at the same moment the guard started her attack, no. 114's programming took over. Losing almost all control of his body no. 114 dodged the guard's attack, the stab missing his chest. A large smoldering fire formed in his gloved hands, releasing the burning pain he experienced from before. He threw the flame at the guard without realizing the magic he was casting. The guard screamed in pain as she was engulfed by the flame, her skin burning away showing the raw flesh under her skin. He threw another at the other guard who had run in fear back to the town but narrowly missed.

He turned back to the guard that he had caught flame to. She was lying on the ground motionless, her burned body letting off smoke from the fire. Her skin was peeled off her body, exposing her flesh to the fire leaving it burned through. Her eyes were empty and her mouth hung open.

No. 114 had killed her.

No. 114 stared in horror. That was what 'kill' meant, it was horrible and he did it. Why did he do that? What did he do? How did he have that much power?

No. 114 suddenly realized that the guard's attack didn't miss as he had thought. He felt an unbearable pain that had begun to grow on his right arm. He looked down at it and saw that the guard had hacked away part of his upper arm, it had hit the middle and went out the side, the purple fabric of his coat was ripped and his own dark blood was pouring out all over him and the ground.

He went into shock. He killed a guard. And part of his arm was ripped. The smell of the burnt guard and the sight of his own blood made him gag. He started to move backwards, away from the guard, away from the pain that wouldn't leave.

One step. The other guard would probably come back to kill him, he didn't want what happened to the guard or what happened to his arm to happen to the rest of him.

Two steps. What did he do? How could he do that? He knew it was wrong but it felt so... right. Why did he feel like that?

Three steps. How did he do those things without thinking of it? Why didn't he know how to dodge and attack before, or did he?

Four steps. He needed to get away, far away.

There was no fifth step. There was no more ground to step onto, so he fell; down the cliff, far, far away from everything. He felt the wind rush out from under him, his blood dripped upwards and out of sight. He knew that when he eventually would land, it would hurt. Maybe even kill him.

So once again, after all his efforts to live, it was all blown away by the same breeze that was letting him fall. No. 114 closed his eyes and readied for the pain, for the end.

* * *

"Is he okay?"

"I'm not sure yet..."

"Did he come from up there?"

"I think so."

"Did he fall?"

"Most likely."

"What does that mean again?"

"Another way to say 'yes'."

"Oh, what happened to his arm?"

"Humans, most likely."

"Oh, are there humans up there?"

"Probably... that means 'yes' too."

"Why are there so many ways to say yes?"

"Because saying yes all the time is boring."

"What does – Hey! He's moving!"

What happened? Had he been killed? Everything hurt...

"Hello? Are you awake?"

"Maybe he's sleeping!"

"I don't think so...."

Who was talking? They didn't sound like guards...

"Why doesn't he open his eyes?"

"Because he probably hurts a lot."

"Would it hurt a lot to fall from up there?"

"Yep."

No. 114 did hurt a lot. But who was talking?

No. 114 opened his eyes, it was darker outside than before. He was lying a little ways from the cliff he had fallen from, he had fallen into the forest, it was filled with trees and underbrush made of stone and there was a type "A" standing over him...

"He's awake!" The type "A" cried out happily. No. 114 was shocked, the black mage didn't look hollow or empty, in fact he was talking and acting kind of like the guards and other people he had seen at the castle.

Suddenly another face appeared right in front of his, another black mage. He looked different though, no. 114 had never seen one like him before. He seemed to be sitting next to no. 114 and had leaned over him to look into his face.

"Hello? You feeling okay?" The mage asked, his voice was softer and calmer than the type "A". He looked like a mix between a type "A" and "B", same strong structure as an "A" but had almost the same outfit has a "B" but he seemed fancier and more powerful than either of the types.

"Can you speak?" The mage asked him in an even softer voice.

"Maybe he doesn't know how..." The "A" mumbled.

"Maybe." The other mage replied, "Come on, give it a go... Tell me what your number is." He encouraged no. 114.

Speak? Could he do that? How do you do that? Maybe he should try...

"1..." No. 114 started weakly, he was in so much pain, "... 1... 4."

"'114'?" The mage asked, "I'm Mr. 239, nice to meet you."

"I'm Mr. 57!" The type "A" chimed happily.

"How do you pronounce your number? One hundred and fourteen? One-one-four? Or is it one fourteen?" Mr. 239 asked no. 114.

No. 114 groaned in pain, why were they talking about numbers when he was hurting so bad? He turned to look at his arm but was surprised to find that instead of ripped fabric and blood there were two sticks tied onto his arm with bandages, keeping his arm stiff and it looked like his coat had been re-stitched.

"I fixed it for you." Mr. 239 mumbled, sifting back to his position next to no. 114 and tightened the bandages. "Humans do this when they hurt their arms, it makes it so that it doesn't hurt so much and fixes itself. I don't know if it'll work on us but it's worth a try."

"Mr. 239 knows lots of stuff!" Mr. 57 said happily, almost bouncing up and down in excitement.

"...Here, drink this, it'll make you feel better." Mr. 239 said handing a small bottle over to no. 114's uninjured arm.

No. 114 took the drink but didn't know what to do with it. He had eaten things before but had never drunk anything before. Why was he supposed to drink it? How do you drink something?

"Come on, it's like eating but you have to swallow it faster." Mr. 239 seemed to read no. 114's mind; he was rummaging through a small ragged old bag looking for something inside of it, checking the labels of bottles and paper packages as he looked through it.

No. 114 wondered why Mr. 239 had so much stuff in his bag and what he was going to do with it all...

Mr. 239 looked up at no. 114 and realized he had not yet tried to drink the liquid from the bottle. "Drink it, it'll make you better."

No. 114 looked back at the small bottle, he propped himself up as well as he could with his good arm and put the bottle to his mouth. A sudden rush of liquid poured into his mouth and down his throat, he tried his best to swallow it all down despite the horrid taste. Mr. 239 took the bottle back when all of the potion had been consumed and placed it back in the bag.

"Feel any better?" Mr. 239 asked softly, his eyes were full of warmth unlike all the other black mages No. 114 had seen before. He nodded slightly, the pain was starting to ease but he still felt weak.

"Mr. 239 can fix anything! He's so smart!" Mr. 57 said happily.

"You were lucky, if that cut in your arm was any deeper you might have lost it. And surviving that fall..." Mr. 239 mumbled in amazement from no.114's side.

"That's silly, how could you lose an arm?" Mr. 57 asked confusedly.

"If Mr. 114's arm was cut anymore, the arm would come off... then you wouldn't be able to put it back on so he'd have no arm." Mr. 239 explained as he looked over the splint he had made on no. 114's arm.

No. 114 felt really lucky, he was happy he still had an arm. He still felt sore, he had somehow only gotten away with bruises and cuts from the fall. He wondered what was happening back at the castle, what did they do about the burnt guard? Were they looking for him? He didn't want to think about that.

It felt like the potion had done as much as it could, he was still really tired and sore but his vision became clearer. He decided to get a better look at the two black mages that were helping them. He noticed that Mr. 57 was in terrible shape, his coat had been re-stitched several times in awkward places, on his chest, arms, legs, everywhere. He also noticed that the back of Mr. 57's hat was stitched up but was rather dented, as though he had been hit really hard on the back of his head. But apart from his tattered appearance Mr. 57 seemed like a very happy mage, although his face was covered by the usual darkness, no. 114 could tell that behind it Mr. 57 was wearing a large smile.

Mr. 239 looked very different from Mr. 57. He seemed to be in perfect condition apart from some stains on his white pants. He had beautiful armor on as well: brass bits on his knees, wrists and the same brass emblem of Alexandria that no. 114 had dangled off Mr. 239's belt. No. 114 also noticed that he had a large gold coloured staff, it looked heavy and really powerful, just like Mr. 239. How did he know so much? Where did he learn all that?

The sky was slowly getting darker, Mr. 57 and Mr. 239 scavenged the stone forest for wood, they didn't get much but there was enough to make a 'fire'. No. 114 didn't understand what they were talking about. What was a fire? No. 114 watched them as they piled all the sticks they found in a pile, and then Mr. 239 made the same flames in his hands as No. 114 had done earlier, the flame caught onto the wooden sticks which instantly lit up. The fire made a pleasant light and warmth, it made no. 114 feel nice and cozy, he had never felt like that before. It was quite nice. Soon after the fire was set Mr. 57 curled up under a tree next to the fire and feel asleep. Mr. 239 sat close to the fire, his chin resting on his hands; he looked over at no. 114 who hadn't spoken since he told them his number.

"So, how did you get down here?" Mr. 239 inquired, the light from the fire dancing on the shiny brass bits on his coat.

"Down here?" No. 114 asked, he tried to look up at the cliff from which he had fallen but the night made it disappear. "I fell down."

Mr. 239 nodded slightly, "How did that happen?"

No. 114 looked down at the ground in front of him, the image of the burnt guard haunted him. His mind kept re-visiting the plateau and the castle; he wished his mind wouldn't. It was too much to bear.

Mr. 239 seemed to understand no. 114's silence, "Did some humans attack you?" He offered gently.

Shocked slightly at Mr. 239's understanding No. 114 nodded, "They... wanted to..." He stopped as his throat tied itself up, he couldn't even say the words.

Mr. 239 nodded, "I see. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." He looked over at Mr. 57 sleeping and sighed, "Why don't you get some rest? You'll feel better in the morning, then we can get out of this forest..."

Rest. That sounded good to no. 114, he felt so tired. But Mr. 239 didn't look like he was going to rest; he just sat there looking over at Mr. 57.

"What about you?" No. 114 asked, Mr. 239 looked tired, why didn't he rest?

Mr. 239 seemed surprised by the question, "Oh um, I have to keep watch on Mr. 57..." He looked back at the sleeping mage, his expression showed concern and a small touch of fear.

No. 114 didn't understand. "Why?" He asked, his head tilting to one side.

Mr. 239 hesitated but decided that if Mr. 114 was going to stay with them he might as well know. "Mr. 57... he doesn't work properly. One minute he's happy and aware, the next he's empty and casting magic on every single thing he sees."

'Magic', that was the fire that no. 114 and Mr. 239 had released from their hands. That was how to 'attack', how to 'kill'. No. 114 shuttered slightly upon his realization of the meaning of these words.

"How...?" No. 114 started but his voice died off.

Mr. 239 sifted uncomfortably, he hated remembering it. "About two days ago, I found Mr. 57. It was just after an attack on a city full of rat-humans and Mr. 57 got left behind and some rat-humans found him." He paused not wanting to continue. He didn't want to scare his new friend, but he felt he might as well finish. "They almost killed him. They beat on him, and beat on him. They used spears and... they hurt him really badly. I saved Mr. 57, but he almost stopped and he was hit really hard on the back of his head. I was able to make him better but... there's something wrong inside of his head and... I can't fix that. Type 'A's don't have the mental strength 'B's and 'C's have, his mind broke I think. I wish there was more I could do for him..."

No. 114 was silent. He didn't understand some parts of what Mr. 239 had said but he understood it for the most part. It was horrible, why did humans want to kill and hurt the black mages? Why did they hurt Mr. 57 so badly? Was that what the guards wanted to do to him? The whole thing terrified no. 114, humans trying to kill them, what was wrong with Mr. 57, everything.

"Are you okay?" Mr. 239 asked no. 114 when he noticed him start shaking. He felt bad for telling Mr. 114 the story, he was probably shaken up from whatever had happened to him and he felt like he had made it worse.

"Don't worry about it okay? Everything will be fine." Mr. 239 reassured him, although feeling rather shaken himself. "Just try and get some rest okay?"

No. 114 was tired and scarred. He didn't want to be scared but the images of the burnt guard, his blood dripping upwards as he fell down the cliff and his made-up images of Mr. 57 almost being killed were cursing his mind. But slowly the warmth of the fire, the light breeze and the sound of Mr. 57's and Mr. 239's breathing clamed him and he slowly slipped into a deep sleep.

* * *

AN: So did you like it? Strange turn eh? It was pretty hard writing that whole chapter without using the words 'death' or 'died' or otherwise. So please leave a review to tell me what you think!


	4. Friendship

Chapter 4

AN: Sorry for the delays nn;; I had writer's block xX but I've mustered up enough inspiration and ideas so hopefully this'll work out. So yes, enjoy.

* * *

Falling water pounded down on his face. He didn't know how long he had been lying there, everyone had left and silence ringed throughout the ancient city. He was not injured but he felt no reason to get up, he could lie there for all entirety, it didn't matter. But he chose to lift himself up, to look down at the rain-soaked ground. The rainwater mixed in with stale blood, the smell of the killed was inescapable. He looked to his side, a building made of aging stone had collapsed, a hand lay out from underneath the rubble....

He was standing in the sunlight, his clothing dry and he was far away from the nightmare he had woken up in. The ground was wet although it had not rained in days. Tall grass surrounded him and swayed in the gentle breeze. He took a few steps and found a passage. An old stone passage hidden in the wet marsh, he didn't know where it would lead but he had seen it in his dreams. He nodded to himself and entered the passageway underground....

He stood in a village. Various black mages made their way around, in and out of shops and house, all filled with happy and aware mages. Warm sunlight poured in and sparkled in the clear stream that passed through the village. He sighed deeply, there were no humans, no fear, no fighting. This must be paradise....

* * *

"Mr. 114? Wake up! Wake up! It's morning now!" Mr 57 sang happily above no. 114's resting place. He woke with a start and found himself back at stone forest, a gentle sunlight poking in through the stone leaves. He shook his head slightly, wasn't he just somewhere else...?

"You had that dream didn't you?" Mr. 239 asked sleepily from the other side of their site, a slightly amused look on his face.

"Dream...?" No. 114 wondered out loud.

"It's when you see places and people and stuff when you sleep, you feel like it's happening but it isn't." Mr. 239 explained. "You had that dream, about the village with only black mages, right?"

No. 114 paused, "Yeah." He nodded to Mr. 239.

"I've had that dream! Isn't it great? We want to go there! Mr. 239 thinks it's far away so that means it'll take a long time to get there." Mr. 57 had said it so fast it took a moment for no. 114 a moment to figure out what he said.

"Yeah, so we'll have to get moving right away." Mr. 239 yawned loudly, he hadn't slept all night and it starting to get to him. He sat down on the ground and pulled a rolled up piece of aged paper out from his bag. "Come over and look at this..."

No. 114 stood up with slight difficultly, he felt better from the rest but his arm was still badly damaged making it hard to push himself up. He walked over to Mr. 239 and sat down in front of him as Mr. 57 filled up a gap to his side. Mr. 239 had unrolled the paper revealing it's contents, it was a diagram of something important with mark labeling certain parts and many messy notes about treasure, routes, secrets and looting were scribbled in odd parts.

"This is a map, it's a picture that shows where places are and how to get to them." Mr. 239 explained to Mr. 114. He paused for a minute looking at the map then asked, "You came from Alexandria?"

"Huh?" No. 114 questioned, what was Mr. 239 talking about?

"Never mind." Mr. 239 mumbled going back to the map. "The passage underground from the dreams was in a marsh, a big muddy place, and the only marsh is here..." He pointed to a large coloured blob on the map labeled 'Qu's Marsh'. "And we're here..." He pointed at another blob labeled 'Evil Forest'. "So to get there....We could go through south gate just over here..." He ran his finger over to a mark labeled 'South Gate: Ground Passage'. "But...." Mr. 239 looked up at Mr. 57.

"'But....'" Mr. 57 repeated giving Mr. 239 a questioning look.

"But last time we went through one of those it... didn't go well." Mr. 239 explained looking back down at the map. "So we could go up through this 'Ice Cavern', it's dangerous but there won't be any humans. And that'll take us to..." Mr. 239 paused nervously looking down at the map and what came after the Ice Cavern. He rolled the map back up and stuffed in back in his bag.

"We're going to 'Ice Cavern'?" No. 114 asked.

"Yeah..." Mr. 239 mumbled rubbing his eyes. "I'm going to go look ahead, make sure the humans have left. You two stay here okay?"

No. 114 nodded confusedly, all this was so new to him and he was still getting used to it. They wanted to go to the village that they all saw in their dreams, it seemed perfect there, but Mr. 57 said that it was far away... How would they ever get there?

"You're going... by yourself?" Mr. 57 broke into No. 114 thoughts. He suddenly jumped up and grabbed onto Mr. 239's sleeve, a pleading look in his eyes. "Don't leave me alone! Please...?"

Mr. 239 stayed silent for a moment then gently removed Mr. 57's hand from his arm and held it in his hand. "You won't be alone, Mr. 114's here now too. And I'll be back in a second." Mr. 239 clamed Mr. 57, his voice soft and soothing.

No. 114 watched them; it was what he was best at. They seemed so close, like they cared for each other more than themselves. He had never seen people act like that. It was so nice, he wished someone would feel that way about him. But suddenly a small fear touched no. 114; Mr. 239 was leaving him alone with Mr. 57. What happened if Mr. 57 snapped and tried to cast magic on him? What would he do? Why was Mr. 239 leaving them alone...?

"You'll be right back?" Mr. 57 asked, his voice coming back to his usual carefree tone.

"Of course," Mr. 239 nodded and turned to no. 114, "Don't worry."

No. 114 wondered if Mr. 239 could read minds.

With another nod to reassure Mr. 57, Mr. 239 turned and disappeared into the stone foliage. Mr. 57 sighed slightly and turned to No. 114, he tilted his head and seemed to be wearing his usual smile.

"You two are really close." No. 114 mumbled, he was still nervous about being alone with Mr. 57 but decided that Mr. 239 wouldn't leave them alone if he was worried about Mr. 57 snapping.

"Yep! Mr. 239's my friend! He helps me out and makes sure I don't get hurt." Mr. 57 said happily. No. 114 shuddered slightly at Mr. 57's comment about how Mr. 239 makes sure that he doesn't get hurt.

"...Friend?" No. 114 asked quietly, there were so many new words to learn.

"Yeah, I think Mr. 239 said it meant... A person that you trust and like being with that you look out for. He said friends don't hurt each other that they make sure you don't get hurt and you do the same for. Me and Mr. 239 are good friends." Mr. 57 paused contently then turned to Mr. 57 with a great idea. "We should be friends!"

No. 114 was surprised at Mr. 57's idea; he had never been a friend and didn't know if he'd be a good enough friend for Mr. 57. But before he could reply Mr. 57 grabbed no. 114's hand from his good arm and held in tightly in his.

"Alrighty! We're friends now!" Mr. 57 announced and squeezed his hand gently. "Friends?"

No. 114 felt shocked at Mr. 57's sudden decision but felt so happy that Mr. 57 wanted him to be his friend.

No. 114 squeezed back, "Friends!" He announced.

"Yaaay!" Mr. 57 cheered, letting go of no. 114's hand and starting jumping up and down in joy. No. 114 jumped back slightly, startled at Mr. 57's sudden actions. At the same moment, Mr. 239 stumbled back into the clearing looking at Mr. 57 confusedly. When Mr. 57 realized his other friend had returned he stopped jumping and instead decided to inform Mr. 239 about the news.

"Me and Mr. 114 are friends now!" Mr. 57 explained joyfully.

"That's good." Mr. 239 nodded sleepily. "I looked ahead and the humans have gone away so it's safe for us to keep going. Are you guys ready to go?"

"Yep! I wanna go to the village!" Mr. 57 cheered happily, becoming friends with no. 114 had put Mr. 57 in a really good mood.

"How about you Mr. 114? Ready for your first traveling experience?" Mr. 239 asked no. 114, he knew that Mr. 114 was still new to all this and had a bad experience beforehand; he wanted to make sure their new friend wasn't too nervous.

No. 114 nodded. He wanted to go to that village too, even if it was very far away, he was ready to go.

"Okay then, let's head out." Mr. 239 announced, he only hoped that going through the Ice Cavern would be easier than he had heard before... Because, they had Mr. 57 with them....

* * *

Short chapter, I know. Sorry nn I promise the next one will make up for it. If I included the next part in this chapter I would have made a chapter longer than the last one oo So hopefully this'll tide you over for a bit. The next chapter should be done within the next few days so you won't have to wait too long.

Oh, by the way, I was thinking of writing a separate fic about 239's background story. Would anyone be interested? I'll probably still write it if no one is but if you are I might get around to it sooner nn So anyways, please leave a review!


	5. Complication

Chapter 5

AN: I HAVE RETURNED! Heh, I know I promised this chapter a few months ago but my internet's been on and off, holidays, homework, exams… ugh. But none of those are good enough reasons to leave my beloved readers in the dark… (if they are even still around…) So anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter. And if you do read through, please leave me a review!

* * *

The beautiful sunlight from the morning had vanished behind the layers of cloud and mist. A dull, gray light had fallen onto the open fields in front of them. No. 114 had never been somewhere so huge, so open. Tall, green grass had over-run the landscape, a few trees dotted the area and a large 'river' ran nearby. Everything was so new and fresh.

Mr. 239 led them toward one of the cliff edges, Mr. 57 and no. 114 followed close behind them. Mr. 239 warned them that there might be 'mist monsters' and humans around so they had to be quiet. No. 114 was having a hard time understanding everything Mr. 239 was saying.

As they had walked out into the open plain, Mr. 57 raised his arm a pointed to a far corner of the valley enclosed by the tall cliff edges. "We went through there," he had whispered to no. 114, "We went through a… 'gate'. And there were humans there and they chased us all the way into the forest!" No. 114 felt disturbed by the way Mr. 57 talked about that so freely, so carefree as if it was just an amusing thing that happened to them and not a life or death struggle. How could Mr. 57 talk like that?

The silence all around them was causing no. 114 to think. He didn't like it. Because all he thought about were things he didn't want to think about. He would remember the castle; he would wonder what was going on there now. He thought about the other black mages there and wondered if they had come back from wherever they had gone. He wondered about the guard….

"We're almost there." Mr. 239 yawned as he used his gold staff to clear a way through the overgrown grass.

"Do you think we'll see a mist monster before we get there?" Mr. 57 asked, no. 114 still didn't know what a 'mist monster' was.

"If you keep talking so loudly we will." Mr. 239 mumbled turning back to look at Mr. 57 with what no. 114 believed to be a smile.

"Ummm…" No. 114 started, he wanted to know what they were talking about. What was a 'mist monster'? It sounded vaguely familiar to him, like so many words he would hear. But that was all it was anymore, a vaguely familiar memory, his programming was starting to fade away taking away the meanings to the few words he was supposed to know.

Both Mr. 239 and Mr. 57 had stopped walking, they turned back to look to at no. 239. "What is it Mr. 114?" Mr. 239 asked softly.

"What's a 'mist monster'?" No. 114 asked tilting his head downwards.

Mr. 57 looked at Mr. 239 waiting for his explanation but Mr. 239 was hesitant to answer. He stared at no. 114, his yellow eyes focused in but he seemed strangely distant, as if he was somewhere else. He wondered what he would say…

"…A monster is…" Mr. 239 started but trailed off, shivering slightly at an old memory. "…Something bad that might attack you." He tried; it was hard to explain these kinds of things, especially to other black mages.

"But… what's mist?" No. 114 asked as he tried to understand the first answer.

Mr. 239 hesitated again; once again old memories came to haunt him, memories he wished he didn't have. He didn't want to share all the knowledge he had gained; most of it wasn't worth the trouble. Mr. 239 liked to keep it simple for them; they didn't need anything else to burden them. He looked up at the gray sky, "That white stuff up there." He said simply, turning back toward the cliff they were heading to.

They were walking again, silently so the mist monsters wouldn't hear them. No. 114 was even more confused now. He didn't have the slightest idea what a mist monster was… Or what mist was now. He looked up into the dreary sky and tried to block out all of his thoughts, he didn't like them. But trying to block out his mind was harder than he imagined, the more he tried to calm his mind down it was start up more powerful than before….

"We're here," Mr. 239 sighed sleepily.

No. 114 took his eyes off the sky and stared in awe at the entrance to the 'Ice Cavern'. A large natural passage made purely of rock and ice stood before them, cold, icy air seeped out chilling their hidden faces. The light from inside the cavern passed through the layers of ice, making beautiful distorted lights on the frozen walls of the cavern. It was hauntingly beautiful, a sight not many saw now that air travel was so common. No. 114 didn't know how they would walk through this place… it looked so forbidding.

"Okay," Mr. 239 started, turning to face the other two mages. "It's supposed to be really dangerous in here, there are lots of monsters and it's really cold so…"

"What's cold?" Mr. 57 asked looking up at the tall frozen entrance.

"Cold?" Mr. 239 repeated in slight surprise. "It's um, temperature which is how hot or cold something is… so uh, cold is when you feel less temperature…. It's what the air from in there feels like."

No. 114 thought that explaining things must be hard.

"Oh, um... okay." Mr. 57 was obviously still confused.

"So anyways," Mr. 239 yawned, "Be careful inside because of the monsters and if you get really cold then try to warm yourself up, if you get too cold then… then that would not be good."

Mr. 239 turned and walked in, the other two followed. The inside of the cavern was like nothing no. 114 had ever seen, everything inside was frozen in crystal ice. It looked enormous, as if it would stretch on forever, there where pathways made of ice that twisted and turned, thick walls of ice surrounded them and they all glistened in the light. Frozen flowers from hundreds of years ago decorated the entrance; the inside of the cavern didn't look half as unwelcoming as it did from the outside.

"It's so pretty!" Mr. 57 sang joyfully looking from the layered ice on the walls to the frozen flowers.

"Yeah," Mr. 239 mumbled drowsily, "Hey… A chest." He said as he caught sight of an aged chest ahead of them; he wondered over to it with no. 114 and Mr. 57 following closely behind. The chest was made of aged wood, small designs were carved into it and it seemed cracked from years of use. Mr. 239 opened it, taking no notice of the beautiful designs, he pulled out…. A sword? No. 114 jumped back automatically before he realized that it was too short to be a sword.

Mr. 239 held it in his hand for a moment inspecting it's scabbard before he pulled the blade out, it sparkled slightly in the light, the ice cavern reflected on it's cold, sharp edge. No. 114 felt the gash in his right arm sting slightly, he remembered the guard on the plateau, the shining blade, the pain.

"Are you okay?" Mr. 239 broke in, staring straight at no. 114, the weapon still resting in his hands. No. 114 didn't answer; he was still staring at the blade, still feeling the pain in his arm. Mr. 239 looked down at the dagger and then back at no. 114, his strong mind put the two and two together. He looked back at the dagger resting comfortably in his gloved hand and winced at the possibility…

"Did you…. Get hurt by one of these?" Mr. 239 spoke softy, barely more than a whisper. He knew Mr. 114's wound was caused by a weapon with a sharp edge, a sword or dagger he suspected.

No. 114 jumped from his chilling thoughts, surprised at Mr. 239's sudden understanding. He looked down at his bandaged arm, he didn't want to talk about it but he couldn't leave Mr. 239's question unanswered. He nodded slowly. Mr. 239 understood so he didn't question any further.

"What is it anyway?" Mr. 57 popped in gazing at the blade in Mr. 239's hand.

"…It's a Mage Masher." Mr. 239 answered, surveying the dagger. "It's a common dagger, fairly cheap but this one seems to be older and better quality than ones they make nowadays in weapons shops. It's supposed to be used to fight… mages."

"What's fight mean again?" Mr. 57 asked as he tilted his head to one side.

Mr. 239 didn't answer but simply placed the dagger back in its scabbard and put it in the rugged bag slung over his shoulder. He wasn't sure why but he loved weapons, not for fighting or anything, he just found them interesting. Mr. 239 left the empty chest and led the two mages further into the ice cavern.

The further into the cavern they went, the colder they got. Powerful gusts of icy wind emerged from seemingly bottomless pits below them, these gust were so cold no. 114 thought he wouldn't be able to keep walking. The cold conditions got worse, none of the mages spoke and each of them became slower and slower, the wind and cold freezing their bodies.

Finally, they reacted the last stretch of the frozen cavern. There was a large waterfall; the water fell into a partially frozen stream. A light poured in from above a winding pathway, the exit. It was warmer here, but Mr. 239 was barely moving, no. 114 noticed, he was walking so slow he was barely moving, and he was swaying strangely.

Mr. 57 noticed too. 'Hey, Mr. 239-"

Before Mr. 57 could finish his sentence, Mr. 239 fell limply to the icy ground.

Panic instantly filled no.114; had Mr. 239 been killed by the cold? He rushed over to Mr. 239 and to Mr. 57 who was standing hollowly over him. Mr. 239's eyes were closed, and his chest heaved up and down; unfortunately, neither of the mages recognized this as a sign of life. No. 114's breath quickened, what were they going to do. He looked over to Mr. 57 in near tears only to find, to his horror, that Mr. 57's eyes were empty.

Mr. 57 was about to snap. His eyes grew large and empty, his breath became erratic, his gloved hands were shaking. No. 114 stared at him in panicked fear. Slowly, Mr. 57's eyes raised from Mr. 239's body and turned to no. 114 who noticed a flicker of magic in his hand.

Mr. 57 sent a fireball straight at no. 114's head. He was able to drop and dodge it; he began to rack his brain for any way to stop Mr. 57 without using magic and hurting him. Mr. 57 began another fire spell in his hands, letting it build up in power.

"Mr. 57! Stop it!" No. 114 pleaded in fear, he didn't want to be killed by the sweet, carefree 57. How could he stop him…?

Mr. 57 let the fire spell loose, but missed no. 114 and hit the ice wall, melting a large dent in it. No. 114 had to stop him somehow. Suddenly, a strange idea struck him, he doubted it would work but he didn't know how else to make Mr. 57 stop.

Just as Mr. 57 readied a new fire spell in his hands, no. 114 lunged toward him and, despite his greater instincts, locked his hands into Mr. 57's. He winched at the pain the fire magic caused his hands; the magic kept coming, Mr. 57 was still casting the spell into no. 114's hands. Over the pain No. 114 was able to choke out: "Mr. 57, don't you remember? We're friends!" No. 114 squeezed Mr. 57's hands gently as he had done earlier that morning.

To no. 114's relief, the fire magic stopped and Mr. 57's eyes became full again. He choked on tears, realizing what he had just done to his friend. Mr. 57 pulled no. 114 into a tight hug, no. 114 found it comforting but the pain in his hands was unbearable.

Suddenly both of the mages remembered Mr. 239. They both rushed back to his body and fell beside him. "W-what's wrong with Mr. 239?" Mr. 57 managed over tears. No. 114 wasn't sure until he remembered the night previous and how Mr. 57 had slept… Mr. 239 was sleeping!

Realizing this no. 114 started to shake Mr. 239 gently, trying to make him get up. Mr. 57, after watching confusedly for a moment caught on and helped in trying to wake him. After only a moment or so, Mr. 239 began to stir and open his bright yellow eyes.

"I should start getting more sleep." He mumbled, smiling to himself.

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Fun? I hope so… and don't panic about me not updating again. I'm not sure when the next chapter will be up but I won't leave it for months nn;;; The next one will probably be a lot shorter too x.o Anyways, please review! I love reviews! 


	6. Anxiety

A/N: Wow, still got readers around I see! I must say that I'm pretty flattered by most of your comments, I can't believe that some of my readers are almost 7 years older than me and are loving the story as much as they are. Makes me really happy, thanks! This chapter is a bit longer, but no one seems to mind so, here ya go.

Lucrecia LeVrai: Sorry about scaring you, but you're right I did that just to scare you all and to try and trigger 57 off. As for the game aspects, I totally agree but I have seen some nice adaptions. Greez, you're 6 years older than me! Oh yes, about your comment on the weapon shop in the black mage village… I dare you to go to that shop and see if you notice anything…

Wonwingangel: I love your reviews! Hee, I can't believe you checked to story so often! Crazy… thanks for the comments. As for the 239 story, it may not be ready for a while, need to figure out names and stuff for characters. But I promise it'll be good!

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Chapter 6

The hot sunlight of the desert was beaming down, dusty sand kicked up from around him; the heat and sand nearly blinded him. He wasn't sure what he was doing there or where he was, everything was a messy blur of sand, sunlight and… trees? He liked trees but they didn't seem like normal trees; they formed out of the ground strangely, not out of dirt or sand but out of another tree? No, he was standing in a tree! He quite liked that.

He wandered over to a patch of trees; the shade was pleasingly cool next to the stiff heat. He stood there tying to make sense of his situation under the trees… but he decided to think about the tree instead, that was more pleasant to think about. He felt funny standing in a tree, he thought he was too big to stand in trees. This tree must be special. It must be huge, and it must look pretty from far away. He nodded to himself while he thought about this. Trees were nice.

A sudden shrill scream made him jump. The sound broke the pleasant silence; suddenly he heard the yelling and screaming of humans coming from all around him. Confused, he peered through a crack of leaves and branches to see all the other black mages marching through the tree's paths, they set fire to the houses built in the tree and they attacked people. The people didn't look like normal humans at all. They ran around in groups and screamed when they got ambushed by the black mage soldiers; most of the strange humans got killed.

The black mage became confused and retreated back into the patch of trees. He could still hear the screaming; he could still feel that sense of magic only a mage could feel. But he didn't understand, it was strange, so he sat inside the patch of trees admiring the emerald leaves that swayed gently whenever a spell was cast outside. The black mage felt calm in there, until the sounds outside stopped.

He crawled out from the shelter of the tree patch. The black mages were all missing, only the dead and dying were left. Quite a few humans were dead, lying motionless on the ground, there were only a few black mages defeated. Everything was silent. The sun was still pounding down on him; the dusty sand blew up slightly in the breeze. Was everyone gone?

Suddenly a human ran out from one of the destroyed homes nearby, a spear at the ready. The black mage stood there motionless, not by fear but by lack of understanding what was facing him. The human advanced and stabbed the spear through the black mage. The black mage choked on pain and kneeled over as the spear was drawn out from him, it had pierced through his middle and left a large hole that dripped dark blood onto the dusty sand floor.

'That's for Burmeica!' The human yelled as he ran off. The black mage sat alone, crunched over on the ground, gripping onto the wound that felt like it would rip him apart. He choked on a sob, wincing on the pain that cursed his body. He wanted to be back under the tree patch where he felt safe…

A sudden darkness replaced the bright sky above him; like a fire the darkness burned away the edges of the sky, until there was nothing but dark above the massive tree. He watched in paralyzed fear as a figure appeared from the slice of darkness, it was huge and it was advancing from the dark to the beautiful tree, he was carrying a spear like the one that stabbed him; he threw it down towards the tree. The spear caught a strange fire as it fell through the atmosphere to the tree, it would surely rip the tree apart, burn it down even. The spear fell closer and closer, until it hit, engulfing the mage and the beautiful tree in the flames of war, the most painful death…

Mr. 114 rose from his dream in a cold sweat, his breath was quick and his mind was filled with the stale fear of the dream. The more he woke, the more the dream slipped away, the details of the dream became missing and soon all that was felt was a unexplainable fear. The unfamiliar fear that only came from nightmares.

The sun had risen over the faraway mountains by now, they had set up camp close to the Ice Craven's exit; between a patch of mountainous rubble and a thick forest. A human's village could be see in the not so distant horizon, it was smaller than where Mr. 114 had come from, there were few building and little movement could be seen. Mr. 239 told them not to build a fire because the humans there would come searching for them; he also said that the village there was horrible, that they should avoid it as much as they could. Mr. 114 didn't understand but knew that Mr. 239 was smart so he didn't question him.

He rubbed his hidden face with his hands, which Mr. 239 had bandaged for him. When he had heard about what Mr. 114 had done when Mr. 57 attacked him, he was very impressed. He told Mr. 114 while bandaging him that he was very brave and very smart. Mr. 114 didn't think so highly of himself, even if he didn't know what 'brave' meant.

Mr. 114 and Mr. 239 had taken turns guarding over the site through the night so they both got sleep without endangering themselves. Mr. 239 seemed scared of the human village, and had told Mr. 114 to watch out for anything strange happening there or any humans coming towards them. None had thankfully.

Mr. 114 sat up from his makeshift bed of leaves and realized his hunger; he moaned slightly, he hadn't eaten for nearly two days. He didn't need much to live on really, but two days were far too long to go without.

"Hungry?" Mr. 239 asked from across the camp, he was leaning back on some mountain rumble, his bag open in front of him.

Mr. 114 nodded in agreement. "Me too," whined Mr. 57, who was between Mr. 114 and Mr. 239 holding his stomach as if in pain.

Mr. 239 dug into his bag, taking out a potion or packet of medicine whenever it got in his way. Finally he pulled up a paper bag; he pulled some form of bread out and looked it over. He handed some to the other eager and hungry mages, apologizing for it being 'stale'.

"So," Mr. 114 managed between bites, "where do we need to go next?"

Mr. 239 sat silent for a moment, chewing on his share of bread. "To South Gate." He mumbled, "… It's going to be harder getting through there then it was in the Ice Cavern. There's going to be lots of humans, and we can't be seen or they'll alert everyone."

"What's that mean?" Mr. 57 questioned as he held the last of his bread in a death grip.

"They'll tell everyone we're there, then they'll want… us to go away." Mr. 239 tried, he found it hard to explain things to Mr. 57. "It's going to be hard," he said, mostly to himself. "I wish there was an easier way down there, but once we get through the land will be open to get to the marsh… then we'll have to try and find that passage…"

"I had a dream about it again!" Mr. 57 cried out excitedly, his mouth still full of bread. "I saw a forest too, wasn't that pretty. Not like the ones here." He shook his head. "But it looked like water."

Mr. 114 and Mr. 239 stared at him for a second; maybe Mr. 57 didn't realize how odd that sounded.

"Right," Mr. 239 started, "South Gate is further down the cliff edge, right where the mountains and cliffs meet, I'm not sure how we'll get through…. I guess we'll figure it out once we get there."

The mages left camp and started towards South Gate. They walked near the cliff edge, where there were trees for cover. Mr. 239 tried to avoid the humans from the nearby village as much as possible. The morning had brightened up fully by now, the golden sunlight beamed down beautifully onto the plateaus that rose above the mist; the mist seemed to make a large white ocean across the valleys below.

They didn't talk much on the walk to South Gate; the warm sunlight was a treat to the mages after the Ice Cavern and the gloomy valleys of mist they had traveled previously. But Mr. 114 had noticed a change between the three mages, after traveling just one day together they had grown close. Maybe it was because of the incident in the Ice Cavern, or maybe because Mr. 239 and Mr. 57 had accepted Mr. 114 so easily…. Or most likely, it was because, being black mages, they felt utterly alone when they weren't together. As far as Mr. 114 could tell, they weren't many black mages that were aware like them, he hadn't seen any since the castle and they were all empty. Who knows, maybe they were the only ones…

After about an hour and a half after they left their camp, they reached a large stonewall, South Gate. There were fewer trees around here, the soil around the wall was yellow and dead from the walls construction and it hadn't properly revived after the years.

"Its big." Mr. 57 said after looking the wall up and down.

"Its not that big…." Mr. 114 corrected, he was used to the large ancient walls of Alexandria. This gate wall was nothing compared to that.

"True, but how do we get through it?" Mr. 239 pondered. He considered many different ways they could get past the first wall; he could knock it down easily with a spell, but that would cause too much commotion, endangering them. He could cast stop or sleep on the guards at the actual gate but there were far too many humans around to try that….

"…We should climb over it." Mr. 239 nodded to himself.

"What's 'climb'?" Mr. 56 asked, titling his head to one side.

"Um, its… like walking up the wall only you use your hands to pull you up. Its tricky but I think it's the only way to get over." Mr. 239 answered, surveying different parts of the wall. "Lets just hope there aren't any humans on the other side."

Mr. 239 paced around the stonewall, trying to find somewhere that they could actually climb up. He finally found a spot; it was close to the cliff edge and was built partially into a large patch of trees. The wall here had been neglected; the wall here was starting to crumble from the weather and perhaps by the occasional creature picking at it for whatever reason Mr. 239 couldn't grasp. It would be easy to climb the wall here.

Before he started to climb, Mr. 239 threw his brass staff over the wall. This confused Mr. 114 and Mr. 57 greatly until Mr. 239 explained that he was checking to see if there were any humans. When all that met their ears was silence Mr. 239 started to climb over the wall. He did it quickly and easily and disappeared from the mages view as he fell to the other side.

"Your next Mr. 114!" He called from the opposite side of the wall.

Mr. 114 paused, looking up at the wall. He didn't understand how Mr. 239 had gotten over it so easily.

"Come on, you can do it." Mr. 239 coached from the other side, "to start just grab onto whatever you can and start pulling yourself up."

Mr. 114 did as he was instructed, he walked up to the wall and felt around for something to grab onto. He found two cracks in the wall and gripped onto them, wondering what he was supposed to do next.

"Did you find something?" Mr. 239 asked from the other side.

"Yes…." Mr. 114 answered.

"Good! Next you want to find something to step into with your foot, there should be some cracks near closer to the ground…." Mr. 239 instructed.

Mr. 239 was good at explaining this; Mr. 114 found two places to step which made him rise up off the ground and higher up the wall.

"Great! Now just find more spots for your hands and another place for your feet… Mr. 57 you should watch close, you have to do it too." They heard Mr. 239 say from the other side. In a matter of a few moments Mr. 114 had made it to the other side with Mr. 239; Mr. 57 joined them after some slow, repetitive instructions.

The other side of the wall was barren. There weren't any trees for cover; only low laying foliage and flowers, the dirt was dry and dead. They were far from the gate and the path where the humans would walk. There weren't any humans nearby, yet. There usually wasn't very many humans passing through but staying within view of passing humans was a risk they couldn't take.

They made their way down, quickly and silently as to not attract humans. They walked in the weeds and low bushes to limit the sound make by their footsteps. The sun was still shining and the only sound they could hear was that of the light breeze passing through the few plants. They walked near the cliff edge where the humans had, to Mr. 114's relief, built a fence to keep people from falling off.

Soon, they made it to the cable car station. The ground here was strange, the station was built in a part of the ground that had been dug out of the uneven plateau, causing uneven cliffs of rock and dirt around the station. The mages found this useful, they hid from the humans at the station behind the one of the uneven cliffs. They sat for a moment to rest before continuing

Voices of humans were rising up all around them. The sounds of their voices made all three of the mages stiffen in fear, a normal reaction amongst aware mages. Mr. 114 hadn't seen or heard a human since his fall off the Alexandrian Plateau. But he couldn't hold back his old habit of listening intently to their conversations.

"I can't believe it, my whole family lives in Lindblum!"  
"Seriously? Man, I'd be worried about them…"  
"I am worried about them! I don't know if they're dead or alive! I bet the house is completed destroyed too."  
"Wouldn't doubt it from what I heard about that Black Mage army."  
"Those bastards! If I got my hands on one of those…!"  
"I know, I can't get over them. Anything that could destroy Lindblum and Burmecia…"  
"And Cleyra!"  
"Yeah, I know. I can't get over that queen."

"I hate humans." Mr. 239 whispered bitterly.

They soon continued, heading down the cable cars' path. The car barely left station now that most travelers were avoiding the Alexandrian border. The path was dirty, barren and steep in some parts. They made their way down at a steady pace, not too fast so they wouldn't trip down the steep slope, but fast enough so they'd get out of harm's way soon.

"What were those humans talking about…" Mr. 57 asked quietly as he walked.

"…The Black Mage army attacked Lindblum." Mr. 239 answered, his voice becoming hard and bitter. "They keep attacking cities, they keep killing people."

"Why…?" Mr. 57 voice had lost his carefree tone and had become small and confused.

Mr. 239 didn't want to answer, especially to Mr. 57 who, he knew, was part of the army that attacked Burmecia. "You'll remember one day." He answered, moving ahead slightly.

Mr. 57 didn't ask any more questions, none of the mages spoke at all.

After about an hour, they had made it to the halfway point. A large building was there, and there were lots of humans. They snuck around the structure to avoid being seen by the workers there. An anxiety was shared by all the mages, a fear of being seen by the humans.

They were on a cable car path again. They were all alone and out of sight from the humans again, but the anxiety still hung on their shoulders. Mr. 239 would look at the other two and wonder in amazement of how they survived everything. Their hardships showed though, Mr. 57 with all his patch ups all over his coat and hat, Mr. 114 and his banged arm and hands. It was amazing that they were alive. He just hoped they could past the bottom of the gate without any more injuries to add to the list.

After another hour, they made it to the bottom of South Gate. They all stopped dead in their path. The only way they could possible get past and out to the empty landscape ahead, was by passing through a small settlement of humans. Lots of humans.

None of them had expected this. It was beyond any danger they had faced together. To try and pass through a human village without being caught.

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Oooh, cliffhanger anyone? The next chapter… is going to be interesting. It'll be short though just to warn you all. But anyways, please leave me a review and expect the next chapter pretty soon. 


	7. Torture

A/N: Just as a warning, this chapter contains violence and swearing and its going to be short. That's all I'm going to say.

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'They silt our throats.  
Like they were flowers'

'The Speed of Pain' by Marilyn Manson

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The human town wasn't that big. It served simply as an outpost, as a home unit for the south gate workers and as a gate to the large countryside. Most people didn't make the trip on foot; there were few visitors here. A trio of black mages wouldn't be able to get through un-noticed.

They had hidden behind a small mound of dirt and rocks close to the cable car station. The voices of the humans were too close for comfort, but they had no other place to hide for now. Mr. 114 knew there was no way to get through this, at least not easily. He was discovered awake in a group of 100 mages, if that could be done then it might as well be hopeless trying to get through this village.

He looked over at Mr. 239 hopefully, but he didn't look all that hopeful.

"Is it…?" Mr. 114 whispered, unable to find words for his sentence.

"Hopeless?" Mr. 239 whispered back in annoyance. "Not entirely, I've escaped through some tough stuff before. It just… needs a plan."

A plan. That would be nice if they had one. Mr. 114 expected Mr. 239 to know what to do, what would happen, what to expect coming through South Gate. Didn't Mr. 239 know everything? But… that couldn't be possible, Mr. 239 was just a black mage, like himself, it wasn't possible for him to know everything.

Mr. 57 sat silently, staring at his feet. His breath was rapid was fearful. Mr. 114 wondered if he did remember what the humans had done to him before….

"Okay," Mr. 239 whispered, "I'll get the human attracted to something else, then we'll make a break for it. I can…" Mr. 239 racked his brain desperately "… cast a spell! On a building or something, they'll all go over and we'll run through the front gate!"

Mr. 114 stared at him in silence. Mr. 57 seemed to take no notice, still staring at his feet.

"….Are you guys ready?" Mr. 239 whispered. He seemed desperate, he was responsible for the two others, he brought them along, and he needed to get them through.

"What… now?" Mr. 57 whispered fearfully, like a child, his eyes wide staring at Mr. 239 in shock and familiar fear.

"…. I'm sorry. We don't have time, or any other choice Mr. 57." Mr. 239's cooed to Mr. 57, trying to seem clam himself.

But before Mr. 57 could answer, or voice his fear of the humans Mr. 239 stood cautiously and crept closer to the village. Mr. 114 watched in detachment as Mr. 239 readied his staff for casting. His eyes closed as he summoned the horrid gift of magic, the sky turned slightly darker as his body steadied and focused the magical chaos inside of him. He raised his free, clenched hand toward the village, his eyes opened and his hand released the magic. A large stroke of lighting cut through the darkened sky and struck one of the far buildings quick and hard, the roof's shingles flying off in every direction.

A sudden panic rose from the humans in the town, shouts that startled the mages called to one another to see what happened. Soon all of the humans rushed over to the partially destroyed house. The way was free.

"Go!" Mr. 239 ordered quietly. And the mages followed.

They leapt from the hiding spot, down the dry, dirt hill down to the cable car station where a car had been abandoned. They rushed past, wind whipping their ears, into a small tunnel made of stone. Their footsteps echoed loudly in the tunnel, Mr. 114 heard his breath, quick from the run and from his sudden panic. He heard Mr. 57 trailing behind him, his panicked breaths. Light blinded them as they got as the tunnel and into open ground, flat in the middle of the gatepost town.

They saw the gateway out, it was wide open! And there were no humans to stop them, they were going to make it out they were going to…

A shrill scream from behind broke the silence. Mr. 239 and Mr. 114 stopped dead, both tense, their minds fearing the worst as they turned around.

Mr. 57 was on his knees, his eyes wide and filled with fear. Mr. 114 choked on a gasp as he saw. Mr. 57 had been stabbed through the middle. The blade was long and sleek, emerging from his ribcage where it had entered. Mr. 57's breath became quick and distorted in shock and pain as the blade rubbed between his ribs. Dark blood dripped from his chest onto the stone ground. It poured between the cracks of the stones, Mr. 57 watched it in mute shock. The three mages stood there, all paralyzed in fear and shock.

"You fucking bastard!" A human's harsh voice rose from behind Mr. 57. It was the human that had sliced him through, he didn't seem to noticed the other two mages as he twisted his sword, Mr. 57 whimpered in the pain of its twisting inside of him. The human removed the sword and yanked Mr. 57 backwards before he fell.

"Yeah, you like that?" The human spat, kicking at the shaking Mr. 57 who simply lay whimpering weakly, like that of a animal or small child. The human spat in his face and pressed his foot down on Mr. 57's already damaged chest, pinning him to the spot. By now other humans had come, most cheering for the brutal killer. Mr. 114 didn't register them; his mind stared in shock at Mr. 57, his chest rising and lowing at rapid speed, the human cursing him from above.

Another human had joined in, kicking, mocking, _torturing_. Mr. 57 lay almost motionless in pure fear. He didn't fight back.

Soon, Mr. 239 called to Mr. 114 in a cracked fearful voice, Mr. 114 barely noticed him. The time seemed to slow as other humans came running in a rabid horde for them, as Mr. 57 lay tortured on the ground, as Mr. 239 called to Mr. 114 to run, to get away. And, in that one moment, Mr. 57 turned his head in pain towards the mages, his hidden face covered in tears and blood and he screamed. It seemed to shatter Mr. 114's ears, to shatter the balance of the world around them. And finally, he spoke words.

"Mr. 239! Mr. 114! Help…!" He screamed in panic, choking on blood in between his words. "Don't leave me…"

Mr. 114 felt himself try to step forward, to try and help, to call back, but nothing happened. All he heard after that was Mr. 239 begging him to follow him, to escape, and that…. there was nothing they could do.

Mr. 114 turned and ran away with Mr. 239, through the gate, away from the chaos, into the clam wilderness. He mind told him not to look back, to not look at Mr. 57 behind them. But his eyes didn't listen, and he looked back. And through the open gate, he saw Mr. 57 lying there, bleeding, crying out to him, he saw the crowd of humans cheering, and he saw the human who started it; raise his sword high above Mr. 57's hidden tear soaked face. Mr. 114 turned away, tears stinging him as his clenched his eyes shut.

And the last thing they heard was the sound of the blade passing through Mr. 57's skull, Mr. 57's last innocent breath, and the roar from the crowd that followed.

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A/N: Sorry…. 


	8. Reflections

A/N: The last chapter had the affect I wanted it to have: it made you all sad. I've been pretty sad about it too though, even though I've been planning that since the second chapter. As to the question why… I wrote this story to prove a point about black mages, several points. I think I made one very clear with the last one. And I'm sorry if I emotional scarred anyone.

I don't think you guys have noticed that Mr. 114 changed how he refers to himself, he used to call myself 'No.' 114 but now he refers to himself as 'Mr.'. I'm kind of upset no one noticed but that's okay. This story is at the half point, so I hope the ride down is as good as it was up, or something. Please read & Review!

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Chapter 8

The forest was dark and forbidding but the mage ventured in. The trees and plants of this forest were all dead, skeletons of branches and roots all dried from the desert heat. The mage made his way through, using his brass staff to push down branches. It was a long time until he found the path. It was slightly yellowed with ill health; he walked down it, his eyes wide with hope of seeing what he had seen in his dreams…

He reached a spilt in the path. There was a tall signpost that resembled a large fanged head of a black mage. It was a little frightening, but it didn't bother the mage, he had seen it before. He walked up to it and read the writing scribbled messily onto the wood.

" - Where there are owls

Where there are no owls - "

The mage thought for a moment, recalling a memory from his dream. He remembered then, nodding as he walked down the path where there were no owls. He came to a large clearing where the dirt had turned to sand where the path disappeared. The mage looked to see if there was somewhere the path continued, but there was none. The mage panicked, he didn't know what to do. He had come so far… where was the village? He knew it was down that path, but this was just a pit of sand.

Crushed, the mage wondered over to a fallen log, to sit and regain himself. This was all so confusing… he knew he was at the right place. Suddenly he jumped back; something strange had hit him. He raised his staff in defense of whatever it was that had just touched him. But there was nothing. Lowing his staff, the mage took a few cautious steps forwards and he hit something. It rippled over the forest in front of him like water rippled. His eyes became wide in amazement and joy; this must be the entrance to the village! Slowly, he raised a gloved hand up and it passed through the barrier, the rest of his body followed and he reached it, he reached the village!

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Mr. 114's eyes opened slowly. The bright sunshine was blocked behind wild trees and clouds of mist; it was rather cold under the mist. He looked up through the tangled branches, turned wild by the years exposed to the mist, and up to the clouded sky. He shifted slightly on the ground and rolled over to face 239.

After the previous horror from the day before, the two black mages had been chased away from South Gate. They had ran for hours it seemed, the constant shouted of humans behind them keeping them from stopping. They had made it into a thick forest were the humans wouldn't venture, they left them alone at last believing that the mages would be killed by some wild mist monster in the forest. The two mages had huddled together crying through the night. Mr. 114 had refused to let go of Mr. 239's coat and they had eventually fallen asleep together, without making a fire or finding a proper spot to sleep.

Mr. 239 was lying on his side, facing away from Mr. 114. Mr. 114 lay there still gripping onto Mr. 239 for a while, then he sat up to try and wake his friend. He didn't want to stay in the forest long, he didn't want the humans to return; he wanted to go to the village still. He poked Mr. 239's back, nothing happened, he poked at him again sleepily, Mr. 239 shifted without a sound. After another poke he groaned and moved away from Mr. 114, he seemed sad. Mr. 114 wasn't surprised, he was devastated from yesterday's events, the images still gleamed clear in his head, haunting him.

Mr. 114 stood up from the ground and stretched out his tired body. It was cold; he'd decided that he would make a fire for Mr. 239. Maybe if he was warm he would get up. Mr. 114 wandered around the little clearing picking up any sticks and branches he could find and placed them in a large pile it the middle of the clearing. Mr. 239 listened from his spot on ground, refusing to move or get up.

Finally Mr. 114 had gotten enough wood to burn a fire. He stood over the pile but he didn't light it, he wanted to but, he didn't. Magic seemed to be the reason humans hated them, why they wanted to hurt them, because of their magic. Mr. 114 didn't want to use magic, but he was using it for something good, he was using it to start a small fire to try and make Mr. 239 happy. Humans wouldn't mind if he did that would they…?

"…Don't want to use magic?" Mr. 239 mumbled from his spot on the floor, making Mr. 114 jump. He rolled over to face Mr. 114, his eyes distant and empty, but not the way the other black mages' eyes were empty, he was… sad, and his eyes had drained themselves of emotion, it scarred Mr. 114.

"…Yes, humans hate it when we use magic." Mr. 114 answered, looking away from Mr. 239's eyes.

Mr. 239 gave out a cold little laugh, it was empty too, and sent chills up Mr. 114's spine. "Humans do hate it, they are scarred of it." The depressed mage started bitterly, "But do you know where we got out magic? Or where we came from? They made us. They made us like this, they gave us magic, they tell us to kill people, then they hate us for it, and want to kill us."

Mr. 114 stared at Mr. 239 in mild shock. His stomach flipped as he remember his pushed away memories from the castle, the guards, everything he had awoken to. He closed his eyes in pain as his hands shook, remembering Mr. 57's screams….

"They make us so they can hate us." Mr. 239 finished bitterly, rolling over to face away from the crushed Mr. 114. He was sick of tiptoeing around the subject. He was tired of lying to Mr. 114. He felt he had failed them, both Mr. 114 and Mr. 57, he promised them he would protect them, that they'd make it to that village they say in their dreams… who knew if it actually existed away? Maybe it was just a dream; there couldn't possibly be anywhere bloodstained black mages could belong.

Mr. 114 stood silently next to his abandoned woodpile, the sounds of birds and wind was all that met his ears. Was Mr. 239 right? Were they just creations of hate for humans? It made sense, in a way. He wished Mr. 239 wouldn't go back to being silent; it made him feel alone, the worst feeling as far as he could tell was fear and being lonesome. He went and sat down next to Mr. 239, he didn't say anything, he just wanted to be close to something breathing, something alive.

"…Have.." Mr. 114 started, his voice shaking, "…You ever, killed… anyone…?"

Mr. 239 rolled over a bit, looking up at Mr. 114 through scarred, sad yellow eyes. It was the last thing he expected out of Mr. 114's mouth. He stared for a minute; Mr. 114 stared back, his eyes filling up with depression like Mr. 239's. Finally, Mr. 239 bit his hidden lip and said, "Yes."

Mr. 114 looked away. Feeling tears trying to brake out of him, he whispered back, "I-I have too." He wished he wouldn't have to say anything else but he couldn't leave it like that, "…I didn't mean to, they wanted to kill me… and throw me over the cliff. But… I used magic, and killed one… And I fell down the cliff…"

Mr. 239 stared in amazement, he had guessed that Mr. 114 had killed before coming to him; most mages have, but to admit it? That was something he didn't expect. But he knew he'd have to admit his horrors back, so he started "I lived with some humans. They stole things from people, killed them, they were the worst kind of humans, the kind other humans hate. I was given to them, and once they found out what I could do…."

Mr. 114 stood up and looked away. He knew the rest of the story from there didn't he? Is this what all mages do…?

"And…" Mr. 114 voice shook, "What about Mr. 57?"

Mr. 239 felt sick to his stomach at the sound of his name, he winced and wanted to roll over and stop talking but he couldn't. "I… don't know. He probably didn't remember." Mr. 239 fought back tears, "I found him outside of a ruined city, destroyed by a war… He probably did."

Mr. 114 didn't say anything.

Annoyed, Mr. 239 broke the silence, "Humans are fucking bastards. And we've been slaves to them, just so they could hate us and kill us. It doesn't matter what we do, they'll always hate us." And with that he rolled over, biting his lip, not allowing himself to break and cry.

Mr. 114 stood silent. It seemed too much to take in, although, it wasn't much more than that Mr. 239 told him when they first met. It was just, more honest maybe. He couldn't deny anything Mr. 239 had said; somewhere deep inside him he had known it to be true his entire existence. He couldn't say he understood, but then, did anyone?

When nothing more came from Mr. 239, Mr. 114 wandered away. He wandered from the small clearing and out into the wild forest. He went without thought to where he was going, as long as he knew he the way back. He stepped over large roots and bent under branches and reached the edge of the forest. He peered around, checking for humans, when he found none he wandered into the open plains.

Strong winds where blowing over the wild fields, the clouds and mist above darkened and a soft, light rain came down. Mr. 114 stared up in wonder; he had never seen rain before. It was very light and barely made him wet. He continued to walk on his own, realizing that he had never walked anywhere by himself before.

He came up to a stream of water; he looked at it in mild interest, the water running down the stream at a steady pace, never ending. He walked alongside the stream and reached a small pool of calm water. He decided that he'd have a drink from it. He reached his bandaged hand down towards the water and was amazed to see, another bandaged hand in the water, the same as his. Amazed, he leaned over the water, only to see another black mage do the same. It rippled and swayed with the water, and Mr. 114 realized that it wasn't a real black mage, it was him.

He stared at his reflection; he had never seen himself before. He was exactly like the other type Bs, but he knew that already. His arm was bandaged where the guard had stabbed him; the splint had been pulled out after they came out of the Ice Cavern, now only a loosely tied bandage remained. His white gloved hands where bandaged too, they still hurt sometimes. He was glad that Mr. 239 was good with medicine; the potions had brought down the pain and helped the wounds heal faster. Staring at himself, he noticed a strange brass plate he had forgotten about. It was attached with a chain around his waist and the plate dangled just below his stomach. Mr. 239 had one too, he remembered. Looking away from the water and onto the real thing, he turned it around to see it… there was a picture of a sword coming out of a castle, the castle he came from. And trying to remember what he could about reading, he read the word "Alexandria" engraved into the metal.

Mr. 114 was confused. He heard Mr. 239 say something about that a long time ago, but he couldn't remember now. He headed back to the little clearing, where Mr. 239 was still lying in the same place, clearly still distressed. He looked up when Mr. 114 came in, scarred that it was a human that came in. When he saw Mr. 114 he looked away, in sadness and self-embarrassment. Mr. 114 stood in front of him and tried to look, content.

"What's Alexandria?" He asked, keeping his voice light. Mr. 239 looked up at him from the ground, confused. He wandered why Mr. 114 would ask something like that…

"It's…" He began to explain after a pause. "The place that uses black mages to hurt other humans. The humans that lived there made us, and used us." He tried to not seem bitter, he felt bad for his earlier actions, Mr. 114 didn't need to hear his angry ramblings.

"Oh," Mr. 114 said, still trying to stay content and normal for Mr. 239. He looked at the plate on his stomach; Mr. 239 tilted his head at it and then looked at his. Mr. 114 stared at it for a moment, then pulled at it, doing so pulled at his back so he used his damaged hands to brake the weak chain. Once it broke, Mr. 114 threw it to the side as if it was something disgusting.

Mr. 239 watched. He looked up at Mr. 114, who tried to smile despite the sadness he felt. Mr. 239 noticed though. He looked at the same plate chained to him, ripped it off and threw it away as Mr. 114 had done.

And Mr. 114 could've sworn he saw Mr. 239 smile.

* * *

A/N: Another chapter done, nothing much happened but they are getting closer to the Village every day! Which reminds me, if you haven't figured it out on your own I might as well explain the dreams and all.

When I started writing this I wanted the mages to try and go to the black mage village but I didn't know how they'd find out about it. After a few hours of thought I wondered if black mages could talk telepathically like genomes since they were close in design. I decided that they couldn't, but it seemed like a good idea. So I adapted it, and I made it so that black mages can feel/live/see/ the memories of other black mages, thus they dream of the village and mages going there and they follow the clues in their dreams. Genius eh? Anyways, please leave a review!


	9. Others

A/N: To avoid any confusion on this chapter…. It was posted, deleted and now rewritten. It should be better now. After this there are only about three chapters left. Shame, I know. And if you haven't read it yet, I started Mr. 239's background story. It may be a while until updated but you should check it out if you haven't already. Anyways, thanks for the great reviews and enjoy the re-written 9th chapter.

Oh and before I forget… I'm planning on having a funeral for Mr. 57 sometime this October. There will be a black mage styled grave and words will be spoken, there will be about four people there including myself, and "Dead Boy's Poem" by Nightwish and "Speed of Pain" by Marilyn Manson will be played. So why I'm mentioning this is because I will be tying a message for Mr. 57 to the grave and I was wondering if anyone would have any messages they would like to send as well. I know it sounds weird but you know, fan fiction writers are insane, children. If you do then you can e mail it to me or put it in a review, thanks!

* * *

Chapter 9

He stood alone in the darkness, breathing in the cool night air. He had become aware of his lungs, his breaths, his heartbeat, his thoughts, his existence, only about a minute ago; but what a great feeling it was, this new awareness. He took a deep breath into his lungs, marveled at the strange and beautiful act he was capable of, breathing. His mind buzzed with thoughts he didn't understand but he didn't care to find out what they were. He was captivated. It cared not who or what he was. It didn't matter if he understood very little, or that his mind refused to leave him be. All that mattered in this moment was his existence.

He felt something push up against him from behind. He glanced back to find… A Black Mage. He was a Black Mage too. What was a Black Mage? It didn't matter did it? He wondered why the black mage was behind him, why the other black mage wasn't enjoying awareness or existence. He looked around and found that there were lots of black mages around him, they were all in rows, they were in a city. What was going on? Nothing was moving in this city…

Suddenly a voice shattered the silence, the voice came from somewhere behind him. And the voice said only one thing: "Attack!"

In an instant it seemed as if the entire world had shattered around him. His head swam in the raw magic all around him as everything in the dark lit. Buildings were burning. Someone was screaming, lots were screaming… Fire kept erupting all around him. The heat pressed against his face. The fire threatened him. His eyes were shut tight, his hands over his ears, trying to block the horrid place out. His mind seemed to explode, it was suddenly overcome with intelligence, explanations, programming. He wanted to block it all out too, but he couldn't rid himself of his mind.

Slowly opening his eyes he lost his mind to the nightmare he was thrown into. All he could see was fire; he felt the heat burning against his face and body, the smell of the burning wood awakening the magic trapped inside him. Buildings were toppling over all around him, and there was screaming, piercing screams, all around. He wanted to scream but found no power left in his voice. There was nowhere to run, there was only the fire…

* * *

The new morning rose like the last, it was dark and cold, the sun hidden by the layers of mist and cloud above the two mages. But there was still a hurt in the two mages, a sting that attacked them as they awoke. It was as if their dreams wished them to forget about Mr. 57, but the morning reminded them, not letting them forget. They decided to continue on their journey to the village they saw in their dreams. They also wished to escape the place Mr. 57 lay, they wished to leave it far behind. They said nothing to each other all morning, although the reason escaped Mr. 114. He guessed it was because Mr. 239 was still sad, he was too, it felt strange without Mr. 57.

They walked in the open, feeling sure that there were no humans wandering the plains. The two mages walked side by side, the only two beings wandering in the open fields. Mr. 239 still said nothing, Mr. 114 began to take interest in the scenery around him: the trees, mountains and even the haze of mist above him. But he felt sad again, remembering Mr. 57. His thoughts slowly turning to that day two days ago, the gate, the humans, and the screaming… But, what happened after they left? He had run in such a panic he didn't even think of what became of Mr. 57….

"Mr. 239…?" Mr. 114 asked quietly, almost scarred to break the perfect silence of the plain. Mr. 239 turned his head but kept walking, his head nodding to one side motioning Mr. 114 to go on.

"Uhh… What happened to… Mr. 57…?" Mr. 114 asked, his voice growing quieter as he spoke. Did he really want to know?

Mr. 239's footsteps stopped as he turned to face Mr. 114 with a look of shock and... disturbance. For a moment, Mr. 114 wished he had never said anything.

"You… know what happened." Mr. 239 replied in a confused tone, one not heard often by Mr. 114. "He was…."

"I know, but…" Mr. 114 interrupted quietly, "what happened… after that? Umm... What happens after… someone is killed?"

Mr. 239 stared for a moment, shocked and confused by Mr.114's questions. He of course had the same thoughts before but had learned to push it away, to not think about things no one seemed to understand.

"I… don't know." Mr. 239 tired to answer, his voice cracking. "… I don't know, I don't think we'll ever know… what happens…"

There was an uncomfortable pause between them; the darkness of their thoughts seemed to cloud over everything. Mr. 114 opened his mouth to break the silence but was cut off by a loud screech from above the two mages. Both of their bodies went tense as they looked up to find a large peach-coloured dragon hanging over their heads. It quickly swooped down and around the pair, the wind it made blowing their faces. It was just barely touching the ground as it gently hovered over the damp earth, it's eyes fixated on the two frozen mages as it circled them.

Mr. 114 stood shock-still, he had never seen anything like this before, this must be a mist monster. He panicked slightly, not knowing what to do until he heard Mr. 239 whisper to him: "Either help me cast magic on it, or run."

The dragon screeched again, the sound making Mr. 114's ears ring. The dragon flapped its large wings and took flight high above them, still screeching from above them. Mr. 114's path was clear, he could run for it; escape a battle he didn't want to be part of. But he didn't want to leave Mr. 239 on his own. But he didn't want to use magic, he wasn't even sure he could after Mr. 57's spell had damaged his hands. Finally, Mr. 239 ended Mr. 114's debate.

"Run now!" He yelled at Mr. 114 who instantly obeyed, making a sprint for a nearby forest. He heard the dragon screech from behind him as he ran, wanting to be far away from the mist monster. He finally reached the forest, tripping on a large tree root as he did. He panted has he lay on the moist forest floor, sensing Mr. 239's magic behind him, listening to the strained screeches from the dragon… sensing magic, in front of him?

He looked up from the damp ground, but there was nothing to be found but more trees and foliage. But he could still sense magic coming from… somewhere beyond the forest? Why would he be sensing magic there? Mr. 239 was behind him, not in front of him. Could it possibly be another black mage?

Mr. 114 pushed himself up from the ground, wiping dirt off his coat as he did, and started cautiously toward the source of magic. He supposed it could be another black mage, or maybe a human. Could humans cast magic? He wasn't sure, so he decided to be careful just in case as he proceeded through the mist-corrupt wood.

And as he stumbled out of the forest, he let out a small gasp as he came face to face with a black mage. If he hadn't known better, he could've mistaken this mage for Mr. 239. But this black mage… He was a C type, and looked like he was in bad shape having been stitched up a few times on his arms. Mr. 114 looked into the mage's eyes to find that all that stared back was his own reflection in his eyes… this black mage was empty.

It had been a long time since Mr. 114 had seen another black mage besides Mr. 239 or Mr. 57. He had forgotten what the empty mages looked like, their eyes vacant, breathing hollowly in a define pattern, almost never blinking. Mr. 114 looked the mage up and down again, noticing in fear the dried bloodstains on the mage's white pants. He became scared and disturbed, wondering what the mage was doing here, what he had done before to get a human's blood splattered all over him.

Mr. 114 turned as he heard footsteps behind him, Mr. 239 emerged from the wood looking slightly shaken from the battle with the dragon. He stopped dead at the sight of the new mage, his hands shaking as he stared at the bloodstained mirror image of himself. The empty mage did nothing as the two stared in slight horror.

"W-wow." Mr. 239 mumbled in amazement, "It's been so long since I've seen another C type…"

"He's empty…." Mr. 114 stated sadly.

"So this is what the C's were for." Mr. 239 whispered sadly to himself as he gazed at the empty C.

Suddenly the sound of human voices made the two mages jump in fear, both rushed back into the safety of the forest, leaving the empty mage standing where he was found. The two hid behind a patch of undergrowth and bushes, both listening and watching for the humans. Soon, a pair of humans came into view and were, to Mr. 114's horror, Alexandrian Soldiers.

"The hell's the mage doing all the way over here?"

"Oh, I sent it here to take out the mist monsters over here."

"Why?"

"I was bored, working Dragon's Gate is soooo boring."

"You're telling me, I hate working under the mist, I can't stop coughing…"

"Yeah, well, once they manage to get rid of all the bodies up in Lindblum we'll be out of here…"

"Phfft. Yeah right, I'll probably be stuck here in Lindblum while you head off to wherever it is in the Queen's Fleet. Shows my luck."

"Give me a break… black mage, follow."

The two mages watched as the guards walked off with the black mage, laughing and chatting as they went. Soon when they were out of view, Mr. 239 spoke up: "Good, we're going the right way… that marsh should be nearby…"

"But…" Mr. 114 spoke softly, "What about the black mage?"

"Wha.. what about it…?" Mr. 239 stuttered nervously knowing exactly what Mr. 114 was thinking, having the exact same thoughts himself.

"What's going to happen to him? He can't stay with the humans!" Mr. 114 started pleading to Mr. 239, he didn't want the mage to be killed… he didn't want any black mages to be killed!

Mr. 239 stood up from the ground, "There isn't anything we can do… if they aren't aware, they won't come with us. If humans see us, the black mage will be ordered to kill _us_." Although he believed what he said, he could feel his mind bend to Mr. 114 feelings, he also wanted to save all the black mages under human control, to save them from being killed in wars or when humans find something wrong with them, to save them from the cruel usage that the humans suppressed on them.

"B-But.." Mr. 114 stuttered.

"I'll show you…." Mr. 239's voice turned cold and sad, similar to the way it was the day before when he was still bitter about Mr. 57 being killed. Satisfied, Mr. 114 followed Mr. 239 as he crept out of forest, looked out for humans, and then ran to the next patch of forest. Under the protection of the wood, Mr. 239 could see Lindblum high up on a cliff across a small area of field, he could see Dragon's Gate and in the other direction, Qu's Marsh. Mr. 114 saw the few human guards at the gate, a group of empty mages patrolling and…

"Oh no…" Mr. 239 breathed as he saw black smoke rise up into the air, a fire had been started in front of the gate, several to be exact, the fires had been set by the hollow mages to burn the lifeless black mage causalities.

Mr. 114 watched in fear as the limp bodies burned, their faces hidden in darkness, part of their bodies torn open, some missing limbs, some were so destroyed in was impossible to tell they were once black mages. Mr. 114 felt tears run down his face as he watched, once the smell had reached him he was already sobbing into Mr. 239's coat. Mr. 239 felt tears too as he wrapped his arms around Mr. 114, but he knew it was nothing more than he already knew, he had seen similar acts the time he found Mr. 57.

For a moment, they both sat there, Mr. 114 wrapped in Mr. 239's arms as he sobbed. The bodies burning in the distance, the empty mages taking no notice of the horror around them, staring into the nothingness of their existence. Finally, Mr. 239 stood and pulled up Mr. 114 who's sobbing had become slow and quiet, Mr. 239 took his bandaged hand in his and began walking towards the marsh.

Mr. 114 did not attempt to turn back, he cried for the burning mages, for the empty black mages, for Mr. 57. But soon his tears stopped flowing, leaving him feeling tired and depressed. He tightened his hold on Mr. 239's hand as the forest disappeared and the fields were replaced with wetlands, the humans were far, they wouldn't see them. The sun had begun to set, and Mr. 114 saw something more beautiful then anything he had seen before, the ocean.

It was like the pond, or river from the day before only it stretched further than Mr. 114 could see. Large waves of water beat down on the shore, while some slid up gently and then fell back into the ocean. It's perfect blue colour hidden under the stretched reflection of the sunset. The sound of the waves soothed him, he suddenly felt calm and content watching the waves.

Mr. 114 pulled Mr. 239's hand as he rushed towards the beautiful sight. Mr. 239 made no attempt to resist Mr. 114 as he walked closer and closer to the shoreline. Soon he was steps from the water, he watched as the water ran up the sand repeatedly, the sound of the waves was more soothing than anything he had ever heard. Feeling weak from the earlier fright, he sat down onto the cool, damp sand. His bandaged hands played with the sand at his side as he watched the waves rush up to meet him, to touch him. He felt himself smile despite the pain that welled up inside. And for once, he felt calm.

He felt content watching the ocean and knowing that, he was not going to be killed like all the other black mages. He was going to go far away from the humans, to the world where other black mages were aware, were they lived in villages like humans. He would remember the other black mages, he would go to the village for them, because he knew… they would never make it.

* * *

God, I write scary stuff. Mr. 114 seems to have finally realized the extent of the Black Mages existence on the Mist Continent. Poor thing, I really don't mean to torture him… Anyways, if you liked it, please leave a review, even if you didn't like it, leave a review. And be on the lookout for the next chapter. Sorry it took so long to rewrite this one. 


	10. Hope

A/N: Hhhm, it seems like not many people read the 9th chapter, what a shame. Aren't I loved? Heh, just kidding. But anyways, do you know that Broken is a year old now? Isn't that weird? I take a long time to write, I'm sorry! But Mr. 57's funeral is coming soon if anyone wants to send messages or anything for him just e mail me or put it in a review! I'd love to put at least one message from a reader on the grave! Oh, and after this chapter there are only two left, the story is drawing to a close, enjoy it while it lasts!

* * *

Chapter 10

The white fabric of Mr. 114's pants stuck to his legs as the water rushed up to his hips. As the wave retreated, the fabric on his pants and coat became heavier and darker in colour. He smiled as the next wave rushed up playfully to greet him, soaking his legs once again in the salty ocean water. The morning sun was shining on the ocean's face, the water rippled and waved, as if it was breathing. Mr. 114 let his hands fall into the wave, the bandages and gloves soaked up the water and made his burns sting from the salt. But it was soothing to him. It reminded him of Mr. 239's voice, the calmness that he didn't understand but didn't care to. He felt that he would like to fall into the ocean, to be consumed by the waves, to let the water caress his face. But the village from his dreams would not let him; he knew that was where he was supposed to go.

To his left Mr. 114 heard the sound of footsteps on the sand and water. He turned as the wave escaped to see Mr. 239, his bag slung over his shoulder and holding something in his right hand. The wind played against his hat and collar and the black smoke was still rising in the distance.

"I made this for you…" Mr. 239 said as he extended his right hand down to where Mr. 114 sat in the sand. His eyes were full with hope but uncertainty, Mr. 114 was glad they were no longer empty with sorrow as they had been days earlier.

Mr. 114 opened his soaked hand as Mr. 239 dropped something delicate inside. Mr. 114 brought his hand to his face and gasped in excitement, in his hand was a white sea shell on a string. He recognized the shell from the previous night, he had found it on the beach close to where they had built a fire. It was a pearly white colour that shone in the firelight, there was an opening at the base and it twisted around into a point. But he didn't know why it was on a string…

"It's a necklace," Mr. 239 explained as he toyed the water with his staff, "you wear it around you neck. I thought that if you wore it, whenever you were sad you could look at it and remember the ocean. Because the ocean makes you happy."

Overcome with joy, Mr. 114 leapt up from the sand and threw his arms around Mr. 239. "Thank you!" He cried happily into his ear.

"You're welcome… great, now I'm all wet." Mr. 239 mumbled.

-

Today seemed special. Today was the day they reached the marshlands. And from what they understood from their dreams, they would find a pathway leading underground and after they passed through, they would be far away from the humans and closer to the village than ever before. It all seemed surreal at this point. Only a few days ago they had mapped out the way there from the Evil Forest and now the dream seemed so close Mr. 114 thought he could reach out and touch it. This was the last time they would be within reach of humans. The last time they would share land and air with them. After today they would be far, far away from them forever. Mr. 239 looked across the ocean, to the horizon. They would finally be leaving this place, this nightmare. So with a deep breath, he started towards the marsh, Mr. 114 followed as usual playing with the seashell tied around his neck.

The ground here was wet and dirty, their feet sunk into the ground and resisted getting back up. Walking was hard here, the two mages tired quickly but with their destination seeming so close they dared not stop to rest. They passed clumps of grass and puddles of mud and water; frogs darted out of their way as they passed. The clouds and mist above them stirred and darkened as a heavy rain began to fall.

Through the mud, water and rain soaking their faces they found a board of wood to walk on in the marsh. They stood there for a moment, regaining themselves upon the sturdy ground. Mr. 114 started down at his mud soaked pants and wished he were back at the beach so he could wash it off. They started off down the board a moment later, the tall blades of swamp grass around them became more condense and it seemed they were walking through a forest of grass instead of the swamp they had passed through earlier.

After what seemed to be hours they found themselves lost. They had somehow wound up in a maze of grass. It reached high above their heads and thick. There was no way to see which way they were going as they forced their way through the mess of plants. Mr. 114 put his head down as he let Mr. 239 lead the way. The blades beat against them as they pushed through. The rustling sound escaping the grass was loud, Mr. 114 worried that monsters would hear and come running for them. He placed another hand on Mr. 239's coat and gripped on as they continued through.

Finally, as it had seemed like hours, they emerged from the grass to find a clearing. Mr. 114 gasped a sigh of relief as he let go of Mr. 239 and leaned over in exhaustion. Mr. 239 remained still, a bit too still Mr. 114 thought. He raised his head back up and gasped as his eyes met what Mr. 239 was staring at.

_It was the passage._

"We found it!" Mr. 114 managed over his shock and excitement. He felt as if his heart had stopped beating, his eyes grew wide as he recognized the passage almost perfectly from his dream.

Mr. 239 just stayed still. He was in utter shock. He even remained still as Mr. 114 grabbed his arm excitedly, "We found it, Mr. 239! We found it! We're almost there! Can you believe it?"

"No…" Mr. 239 breathed in amazement. "So many dreams, I thought it couldn't have been real. I wish Mr. 57 was here for this."

The two stared at the passage entrance, silent in respect for the wonder of it all. For the first time it felt as if they were actually going, they were going to the village! Not able to resist, Mr. 114 jumped up and down in excitement as Mr. 57 used to, the rain still pouring hard but it didn't matter. Over the rain he could hear Mr. 239 laughing to himself, the first time he had ever heard Mr. 239 that happy. What a wonderful moment, Mr. 114 thought to himself as he grabbed hold of the seashell around his neck. This was it!

Without thinking, Mr. 114 bolted down the wet steps, down toward the tunnel. He heard Mr. 239 behind him, warning him to be careful. But nothing seemed to matter at this point. So he raced down the steps until he saw the tunnel, he jumped down the remaining steps happily as he entered the actual cave. He shook off the rain and let his eyes adjust to the darkness of the passageway. Then he realized Mr. 239 had not followed him inside.

Panicking slightly, Mr. 114 swung himself around to see out of the tunnel. There, Mr. 239 was standing in the rain, his eyes wide and fearful. He shook slightly and seemed to have something keeping him from speaking. Mr. 114 tilted his head in confusion and walked toward his friend. Mr. 239 backed away slightly as he came closer and Mr. 114 could tell he was biting his lip.

"Um, Mr. 239?" He whispered over the rain, nervous as to Mr. 239's fear. "Are you okay….?"

"I-I…" Mr. 239 tried, his breath quick and fearful. He turned to eye the tunnel and shuddered letting his hand rest against one side of his face. "I… don't want to go in."

Mr. 114 was taken back by this comment, why wouldn't Mr. 239 want to continue? Didn't he want to go to the village? "But Mr. 239," He pleaded hopelessly, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. "We need to go to the village. Remember?"

"I know but…" Mr. 239 whimpered, closing his eyes as he spoke. "I don't want to… go in there… I can't, I can't."

"What…?" Mr. 114 was just confused now. "What do you mean-"

"I CAN'T." Mr. 239 shouted suddenly, making Mr. 114 jump back in fright. "I can't! I can't go in! I can't do it!"

And with that Mr. 239 collapsed onto the wet stone, letting his staff fall with a loud clunk, leaving Mr. 114 bewildered and confused. Mr. 239 seemed so upset, why was he feeling that way? Was he hurt? Maybe he felt sad again…

"Is it…" Mr. 114 lowered himself to the ground so he could see Mr. 239's eyes. "Is it… about… Mr. 57? Is that why you're sad? Because its okay, there's nothing we –"

"It's not about that, Mr. 114." Mr. 239 replied quietly. "It's because, because, I… I don't like it. I don't like being in small spaces. I can't breath in them, I feel like I'll never come out…"

Mr. 114 was silent while he let himself soak up this new information. It didn't make any sense to him. Why be scared of something like that? Why let that get in the way of getting to the village? Why sit in the rain because of it? But then he thought of the swords, the cliffs. He shuddered. It was the same wasn't it; these fears that no one understands except yourself. But Mr. 239 understood his fear of swords and daggers, so he should try to understand his fear. It wouldn't be fair to turn a blind eye.

"Why, Mr. 239? Did something happen?" Mr. 114 tried to sound comforting and understanding, the way Mr. 239 sounded.

Mr. 239's head rose a bit, but his soft, glowing eyes remained low to the ground. He slowly nodded his head, the rain rushing down the brim on his hat attempting to hide his face. Mr. 114 got onto his knees and reached out for Mr. 239 and pulled him into a tight hug. Mr. 239's arms fell limp, but his face buried itself into Mr. 114's coat. After a moment his hands began to grip Mr. 114's coat for support, rubbing his wet face further into his chest. Mr. 114 rubbed his back, it felt different being the one to give support. But for Mr. 239 it felt so nice to be comforted for once, to be held for the first time. Now he knew why it clamed Mr. 57 and Mr. 114 so much. He felt calmed and protected, as if the whole world could shatter but he would remain threw in Mr. 114's arms forever.

After a moment Mr. 239 reemerged looking slightly less distressed. The two mages stood up, one still standing in the rain, the other inside the dry passage. Mr. 239 picked the staff up from the ground and took a deep breath.

"I'll try."

Understanding, Mr. 114 took Mr. 239's hand and let him grip it for support. Mr. 239 closed his eyes tight and took a step into the tunnel. His breath quickened for a moment but a reassuring squeeze from Mr. 114 calmed him. After two more steps he opened his eyes slowly and exhaled a long breath of worried air. Mr. 114 smiled.

They continued down the tunnel uneventfully, Mr. 114 had to occasionally calm Mr. 239 who was still very scared of being inside the dark enclosed tunnel. The scenery was different then anything the two had seen before, each part of the tunnel was different. Torches were lit throughout; they suspected humans also used the tunnel. But they were more concerned with just getting through the tunnel than dealing with humans. As they walked down a partially small tunnel hand in hand Mr. 239 spoke up.

"Mr. 114…" He spoke quietly, the tight tunnel making him nervous. "…You know. You haven't told me much about yourself."

Mr. 114 turned to look at him in confusion. What about himself?

"What do you mean?" Mr. 114 answered unsurely, leading Mr. 239 down the dim tunnel.

"Well, you know about my past but I don't really know anything about you, before you met me and Mr. 57." Mr. 239 whispered, shaking slightly in the small space; But still able to keep himself in check.

Before then? Mr. 114 shuddered. He preferred to keep that past locked up, to not think about it. Sure, it didn't seem half as bad as some of the things that had happened to them during their travels, but it still hurt. Something about the castle, the soldiers, the queen and everything wasn't right; it disturbed him, even now. He didn't want to bring it up. He didn't want to talk about it. But it seemed he didn't have much choice at this point…

"You know, Mr. 114…" Mr. 239 tried to sound soothing despite the fact the tunnel seemed to get smaller in his eyes. "We are so close to the village, nothing else can happen to us now. We won't ever have to be scared of humans again. They won't be able to touch us." As he speaks his eyes ease closed, his voice becoming stronger and triumphant. "After today we can forget about that world forever but… that doesn't mean we shouldn't talk about it."

Mr. 114 is silent as they pass into a wide tunnel. Water is rushing down from somewhere ahead. It's dark, Mr. 239 waves his hand softly against the air and creates a perfect circle of white flames lighting up the darkness. Mr. 114 watches the flames play in Mr. 239's hand, remembering the first and last spell he had cast. Why was Mr. 239 so intent on learned about his past? Why was it so important to know? If it wouldn't matter anymore, why talk about it? He felt his throat close up as he thought this. The more he had thought about everything from before, the more and more it hurt. Maybe… maybe talking about it would help.

"I-I…" He stutters hopelessly as a misguided foot splashes into the dark water. Mr. 239 watches him through kind eyes, as always. He is waiting for the story.

Mr. 114 blocks out his fears for a moment, taking in a breath of stale air and opens his mouth before he thinks better of it. "I was in a storage room."

"Ah, Alexandria." Mr. 239 whispers.

"Umm… I don't really remember why. But... I was there with, others." Mr. 114 tries to go on, not noticing as they emerge into another phase of the tunnel. "And one day we had to leave and they found out I was awake."

Mr. 239 makes a small sound of discomfort and understanding as he tightens his hold on Mr. 114's hand. "I-I didn't know what was going to happen… she took me up into the sunlight." Mr. 114 remembers, savoring each memory as it passes. Even though they were painful, they were his first memories of life. "There were these... airships, yeah, airships and all the others were going on them but I was lead away to the Queen."

"The Queen!" Mr. 239 repeats in shock. "The Queen? Are you serious?"

"You know her?" Mr. 114 questions Mr. 239, breaking away from his story for a moment.

"Oh, well. No. I've heard of her…" Mr. 239 drifts off, "Keep going, I'm sorry."

"Um, okay. Well, I was taken to this queen and this man." Mr. 114 shivers at the memory. "He said I was broken and it would cost them more to fix me than to replace me. So they should… they should…" Mr. 114 wasn't able to finish his sentence as he felt shivers run up his spine. But Mr. 239 didn't press him; in fact, he was staring off in the distance, his stronger mind putting pieces of their puzzle together.

"Um, so, these two guards took me out to this plateau…" Mr. 114 could hear his voice growing quiet, his tongue wishing to tie itself instead of continue. Mr. 239 snapped back from his own thoughts and brought his loving gaze back to Mr. 114, the warmth continuing his story.

"A-and… one was going to…" Mr. 114 made a stabbing motion towards himself, "And something happened, I-I couldn't help it. I just did it… I didn't know what was happening! But the guard… my spell… a-and… I fell…."

Mr. 114 broke off and, shaking slightly, covered his face with his bandaged hands. Mr. 239 extinguished the small fire spell in his hand and pulled Mr. 114 into a deep, warm embrace. Mr. 114 suddenly felt… better. The hurt still stung but not as bad as it had from inside. He was comforted now, Mr. 239 understood him better now. Mr. 239 was there for him. He was not alone. Nor was he broken, he thought. He didn't know why he thought that, but he knew it for certain. He tightened his bandaged arm around Mr. 239 and the two comforted each other. For whatever it was they needed to be comforted for.

After a minute they pulled away and continued down the tunnel without a word. Their hands held tightly. They walked through the passage; past burning torches, not worrying about humans anymore, past large walls where silhouettes of dead beasts lay exposed, past large pools of dark water, past wild Gargant creatures they neither feared nor noticed. Their minds were blank as the misty skies, fogged but not empty.

"What do you think its like, Mr. 114?" Mr. 239 spoke light and cheerfully, forgetting his fear of the tunnel. "What would it be like to be somewhere with no humans, just others like us."

Mr. 114 smiled under the misty dark of his face, "It must be amazing."

"I think I'd like to open a shop," Mr. 239 thought out loud, as they climbed through a vine filled chamber, "I'd sell weapons, not for fighting or anything, but it would be so much fun."

Mr. 114 nodded, Mr. 239 liked weapons a lot didn't he? "I think we should build a castle! A big castle over looking the ocean… But, maybe not a castle. Maybe a house."

Mr. 239 laughed, his voice echoing slightly. "We should build a house for just you and me! And we can have friends over!"

"New friends? Oh, Mr. 57 would've loved that." Mr. 114 says, not sorrowfully though. The memories of Mr. 57 didn't seem too painful anymore.

"Yeah…" Mr. 239 sighs as they walk down an empty passage, not noticing the lack of signs signaling humans. "I think there is a pond there, I saw it in one of those dreams… like a little ocean."

"I like ponds too, I think." Mr. 114 mumbles, amused and happy at these thoughts.

And just when Mr. 239 opened his mouth to make another comment about the village, he stops. His heart skips a beat, his eyes widening once again as Mr. 114 sees what he sees.

The exit of the tunnel. Warm sunlight was pouring into the dark cave, the sand from outside wandering in, and the sound of waves.

The world without humans.

* * *

A/N: Whoo! They got past another obstacle! They are almost there! Ooooh I'm excited! But unfortunately there are only two chapters left. And next one is pretty, uh, eventful? Yes, eventful. Don't want to give anything away though. But wasn't this chapter nice and calm for a change? Hmm. Pleasant. Once again I'm sorry about how long this story has been to write, can you believe it's been a year! But it's almost over, and the next update will be _very _soon. Please leave a review, they keep me going! 


	11. Dreams

A/N: So, um, there is only one chapter left after this one. And just as a warning, this chapter is going to be pretty graphic.

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"The hopes were high  
The choirs were vast  
Now my dreams are left to live through you"

Higher Than Hope – Nightwish

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Chapter 11

The sun was warm upon their faces. It poured into them; no cloud or mist blocked them from the light and warmth. The land here was strange, no tree could be seen anywhere, they were greeted only with rocky mountains and dusty hard ground. The ocean roared to their left, the coloured mimicked by the sky.

Mr. 114 threw his arms in the air, soaking in the light and the unfamiliar land around him. If he didn't know the village lay beyond those hills he would've wished to be back with the grass and woods of the Mist Continent. He saw Mr. 239 squinting in the light; he sighed deeply and appeared more relaxed now that the tunnel was behind them.

"Which way do you go now Mr. 239?" Mr. 114 asked, his voice adopting the naive playful tone of Mr. 57.

Mr. 239 smiled under the veil of blackness and shifted the bag on his shoulder. "I'm not too sure, nothing here is on that map. But I think we should go through the passage over there, but lets rest first."

He dropped his bag onto the rocky ground and was about to sit when he heard something that didn't seem right…

"Do you hear that?" Mr. 114 asked hearing the same sound, gazing around to find the source. Mr. 239 listened hard and heard what sounded like breaths, footsteps… no, not footsteps… What was that…?

Mr. 114 heard the sound behind him, and turned slowly. All that met him was the darkness of the tunnel's exit, but he could hear that sound…

And in one movement that seemed to rip into time and sanity, a giant animal leap from the dark cave, its dark wings spread behind it as it threw its long, black talons straight into Mr. 114's chest. The giant griffin squeals a high tone and all the mage sees is a white flash as he is knocked flat onto the ground. His weakly made body shattering as it makes contact with the rocky ground, his spine shattering in a single painful millisecond. The talons release themselves from the lung, rib and flesh of the mage as a sudden burst of fire blinds the beast's eyes, sending it screaming back down into the black tunnel.

The sky was still a perfect blue, Mr. 114 noticed, as he lay there broken on the uneven rock-strewn terrain. His eyes close for what seems like hours, he feels the open wounds in his chest as the wind stings them. His lungs struggle to take in air as they slowly collapse, broken ribs spread into his lungs, stomach and other organs he was not aware of. He opens his fading eyes, the sky was spinning it seemed, he tried to turn his neck to see the damage but was awarded only with white hot pain from his shattered spine. All feeling is suddenly lost from his lower body, and rises like an advancing wave. Although he felt the blood pouring into his mouth and the lungs collapse, he felt almost no pain.

Suddenly a figure moves into view above him, it is shaky and blends in with the sky. It seemed to be alive and panicking, its breath fast and erratic. It speaks words that don't have meaning as Mr. 114 coughs up dark blood onto his hidden face. But the voice is familiar. It is Mr. 239 isn't it? Yes… Mr. 239…

"Holy shit! Mr. 114 can you hear me? Oh god, please be okay…" He cries, tears falling into Mr. 114's face, his body is shaking and the look in his yellow eyes cannot mean anything good.

"I can't feel anything… Mr. 2-3-… Am I…" Mr. 114 whispers, between gasps of air and coughs of blood, his eyes growing brighter then darker, his body seemed completely erratic. "Do I look… okay…?"

Mr. 239 looks over his body in disbelief, panic growing stronger as the seconds passed. How so much damage could be done in one blow in beyond his understanding. He cannot bear to look upon the broken body of what was Mr. 114. He cannot bear the thought that he may lose him too; he could not fail them both. Oh please… not Mr. 114…

"Don't worry about that…" Mr. 239 tries to be comforting as he tries to keep his tears within the blackness of his face.

Mr. 114 could hear the ocean. He watched on through fazed and dizzy vision as Mr. 239 ripped through his bag, throwing potions this way and that. He heard the bottles shatter against the rocks. Shatter the way he had. Nausea began to kick in as his organs twisted and struggled against the open wounds and broken ribs. He only had just realized, that he was so hurt, he could not move at all. He wouldn't move would he? Was he to join Mr. 57?

"Mr… 3-9… A-am I broken?"

With that he feels his eyes begin to fade into the rest of the hidden existence. Mr. 239 starts crying out to him. But his voice is far away now, because Mr. 114 was falling into the sky. Up into the mist-less sky. He waded slowly through the ocean of the sky, waves of cloud and mist brushing against him. He emerges through the water of the sky and onto that beach, ocean air rushing past in giant gusts of wind.

The beach suddenly erupted into smoke, smoke so black that when he saw the fires burning he saw the black mages face: Inky, black smoke of a face, eyes of raging fire. He raises his hands to guard his eyes from the sting. And there emerging from the fires he could see the burning mages, all without faces as they march hollowly through the smoke, all of them on fire.

Mr. 114 turns to run, he runs through miles and miles of endless plains and twisted forests. Mist hangs low to his face; he feels it as he inhales the gas, twisting his mist-filled body. And there is Mr. 239, lying on the forest ground. He is yelling words he can't understand, words that belonged to humans. Anger and sadness are all that surrounds the yelling mage. Mr. 114 turns away sadly, he never understood Mr. 239.

He watched through unseeing eyes as stone rose from the ground, forming the unmistakable scene of a human village. Lightning was striking the buildings. And in the middle of the town stood Mr. 57. His mouth opened and gasped air, and he cried out as loud as thunder "Mr. 114! Mr. 114! Come back! Come back!" His broken voice is stained with fear. Mr. 114 runs to him, but Mr. 57 has snapped, his mind filled with incomplete programming. Fire bursts in a world of ice and Mr. 114 feels his hands burn, burning through his skin and down, down to his bones.

But Mr. 57 grabs his hands, and they are healed. Stone surrounds them now. Mr. 239 was glowing with knowledge nearby. Mr. 57 beaming and laughing, his cheery voice echoing throughout the stone forest. Mr. 239 comes to Mr. 114 and runs his hands down his arms, and Mr. 114 feels blood pour down as the wound opens. His hands slip out of Mr. 239's and Mr. 57's as he is suddenly pulled upwards through the sky, droplets of blood rising up like reversed rain. And he is pulled back onto a plateau, soldiers with gleaming swords and armor all around.

Mr. 114 feels himself become rigid, as his body is suddenly their tool. He is pushed down dark tunnels that never end, whispers of war, killing and laughter are all around. Flashes of sun pass his face, he reaches out of it but it escapes him. The stone tunnels twist and distort as he passes through, pushed by the grinning guards all holding the gleaming swords at eye level. He marches in time with the soldiers as the castle appears around him. The Queen is watching from high above. The cold man smiles cruelly at him. Soon he is descending down flights of steep stone steps, remembering the beginning he tries to turn and flee but cannot control his body as it following the crowd of soldiers escorting him further and further down.

Finally, he is thrown into the storage room. He hits the hard, damp ground and feels himself shake, the eyes of everyone on him. He is surrounded by empty black mages, all sharing his face. They all stand around him as he stays lying on the cold floor. He finally pushes himself up off the floor. His eyes are met by the special guard. Her one eye glaring at him, she raises her sliver and red blade and points it to his face. He closes his eyes fearing the worst. But nothing comes.

His eyes ease open to find he is in the room all alone. All the soldiers and mages have disappeared and so has the door. In panic he rushes around the room, trying to find a way out… there must be, where can he go? He has to get out! He can't stay there…

He collapses into space. Supported by the comforts of sleep, he drifts through dreams. He sees the dead forests, the owls, and the invisible wall of water. He moves in a trance, eyes sleepy and tired. He enters the village. There are black mages all around. They laugh and talk, living in cozy homes. Growing plants, opening shops, playing human games. He sees them cry and laugh, they are real. They are free. He closes his eyes in wonder, and he thinks _this is where we belong_.

Soon the dream fades and he feels air passing into his broken lungs. The sun is still pouring down upon him, lying in the rocks, Mr. 239 is crying. No time has passed although it feels as if he had just relived his entire life. His faded yellow eyes rest upon Mr. 239, torn with guilt and sadness. The ocean is roaring somewhere near.

"Mr. 239." Mr. 114 speaks, surprisingly clear. "Don't let this get in the way."

Mr. 239 raises his face in surprise, his eyes wide with pain and confusion. He opens his mouth to speak but nothing comes out but stale air. But his question is heard without speaking it.

"Don't let this get in the way of getting there. That is where you belong. Where we all belong… I can't… I can't continue on. But don't stop now. Please, go there. Be happy. None of this was your fault."

Mr. 239 stares on in shock, his mind soaking the words in, words that will never be forgotten. He closes his eyes, fighting back tears. "I understand… I think." He whispers slowly.

Mr. 114 smiles against the advancing pain, "Thank you Mr. 239, for everything…"

Mr. 239 looks up, he wants to scream, to stop Mr. 114 from leaving. But it's all inevitable, he understands. He takes Mr. 114's hand to try and comfort himself. Choking on tears, he tries to smiles against himself.

Mr. 114 holds the hand tightly, his eyes fade, and the pain was leaving.

The eyes disappear into the mystery of darkness, the breath ends, the soul moves on. Mr. 239 lets go of the lifeless hand and scoops the body up into one last embrace.

* * *

A/N: ….I promised I wouldn't cry! Sorry, sorry about all that. Wonwingangel called it. I guess my writing can be predictable.

So while I'm at it, if anyone wants to send me messages for either Mr. 57 or Mr. 114's graves send them! I'm going to have a joint funeral for them sometime in the future. But hey, at least they are together eh?

One chapter left, please review!


	12. Epitaph

A/N: Last chapter. Its short, but most endings are.

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"Never sigh for better world  
It's already composed, played and told"

Dead Boy's Poem – Nightwish

* * *

Chapter 12

Looking back on it now, everything had made sense. Only he didn't try to understand. He had tried not to think. Not to think about the reasons surrounding this friends' deaths. He thought it was his fault. He had tried not to let guilt take over; after all, he didn't kill them. He had saved them, if it wasn't for him neither of them would have been alive. These thoughts had comforted him then, and they still did now.

Accepting the new traditions, Mr. 239 drives nails into wood, his mind far away from the task at hand. His mind lingered on that day, the sun beating down, the spilt potions gathering in pools in the dust, the cuts in his gloves from digging through rock and sand. It had taken him the entire day to dig that hole; he hadn't finished until well after nightfall. Without wood for a fire and without another he felt lost. He was at a loss as to what to do until sunrise. Mr. 114's body lay where he had settled him after their embrace. Unsure as to wither he should sleep far from him, or close as he was used to. He settled with staying awake, watching the waves turn tides. His coat was still covered in Mr. 114's blood.

He remembered the next morning, when he laid Mr. 114 into his grave. Something he knew only because of his human masters from so long ago. Mr. 114 was limp and heavy to carry. When laid into the grave, Mr. 239 wondered if he should sew up the wounds or leave them. Finally deciding against it, he filled the hole carefully with only the loose dirt and sand, leaving the rocks and stones. When Mr. 114 was hidden under the layers of earth Mr. 239 marked the site with a pile of stones. He thought he would have to come back one day.

His mind wondered back to his work, propping the wood up and cutting off any twigs or knots in the tree branches. He had finished one already, after this one he would be ready. He took a long white sheet and attached it so it would blow in the ocean breezes. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out the cracked shell necklace, found broken near where Mr. 114 had fallen. He had picked it up after burying Mr. 114, he had felt tears rise up in the darkness. He had tied to the string around his neck and continued on the journey to the village.

It had only taken him a day to reach the forest. He stomach twisted in amazement, the realization that this was all happening was hard to swallow. Could the village really lie beyond the aged trees? The wind had pushed him forward and didn't settle until he was running. Running through branches that scraped his face as he passed, his heart beat faster then, his eyes widening, something pushing him forward into the dream world, into the village.

He fell right through the watery barrier. Fell onto his face. He felt embarrassed now, the others still joked about it. Mr. 239 lying flat faced in the entire of the village. The others claimed to have heard him mutter something about "Mr. 114" and a "Mr. 57". But Mr. 239 didn't remember saying anything. But he did remember those first surreal moments. The other mages coming up and greeting him, numbers chiming from all around, the sun was setting making beautiful patterns of colour in the creeks. Home. That was what he had thought as the other mages had repeated his name cheerfully.

It had only been a week and a half. He had already been helped in building a house, the front of the house had become a weapons shop, and he had a counter, display cases, even an owl that visiting him on occasion for scrapes of food. The Mage Masher he found in the Ice Cavern was displayed high above the other weapons he had for sale, he would never sell that dagger… Village life was easy to adapt to, talking with friends, visiting other mages' shops, walks through the woods, big dinners with everyone, trips to a neighboring village of dwarves for trade. But the one thing that had been unexpected completely was a cemetery, hidden deep in the village where no sound could he heard. He learned that others had fallen since arriving. Instantly reminded of his lost friends, he knew now that there was something he had to do.

He hung the seashell necklace onto the grave marker. He stepped back to admire his work, two grave markers, one adorned with a makeshift hat and cloak, the other with a flowing white sheet and seashell necklace. Smiling at their memories, he heaved the two heavy markers onto his shoulder and set out for the grave.

The sky above shone a light red colour as he walked through the dust and sand of the desert. The wind whistled as he neared the site. A million memories played in his head, his mind's perfect memory. He remembered the first times, the pain, the joys… He was at the site now. This soon already? Although a day had passed it seemed like no time had gone by. He forced the markers into the ground, one behind the pile of stones and the other set close by. The ocean roared behind him. The wind whirled around the two memorials, the cloth whipping in its clutches. Then gentling down again. The wind stroked Mr. 239's tear stained face, soothing him.

His hand touched the ground. His eyes eased closed. Vivid images of Mr. 114 and Mr. 57 smiling from the darkness, them in the village, laughing and happy, floated through his mind. His eyes opened slowly to the shock of light. His mind silent. He feels someone brush against his back.

He turns, to find nothing but wind and ocean.

But understanding, he closes his eyes again.

He hears a whisper from the wind:

_"Thank you, for everything, Mr. 239._

* * *

A/N: It only took a year but Broken is officially complete! Thanks to **everyone** who read and reviewed! Thanks to all those who waited the long periods between chapters, to those whose reviews keep me going on and on. Thanks to everyone who listed this story as a favorite! You have no idea how much I appreciate it.

And for those who don't want it to end… Defect WILL be updated once I my head straight about it. It won't be as long as I thought originally, but it should be worth it. And I have secretly been working on a _Broken: Author's Cut._ I know it sounds tacky but it's mostly just a boredom breaker. I'm half way through it and it will be posted when finished. It will be the original Broken only with notes of inspiration, characters, thoughts, and everything else that was going through my head while writing it. And it will also have an added chapter! So if you are interested then watch out for it!

Once again, thanks SO much to everyone! Until we meet in another fiction, farewell!


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